The CA ruled that the 15 “are not guilty of gross and habitual neglect of duty under the Labor Code.”
By ALYSSA MAE CLARIN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA– The Court of Appeals 15th Division issued a decision reinstating 51 talents of GMA 7 who were dismissed in 2015 for holding a protest against contractualization.
The Court finds the 51 talents to be ‘regular employees’ and are thus entitled to their full seniority rights, as well as complete backwages inclusive of allowances and benefits all regular employees of the network should receive from the time of their dismissal until their reinstatement.
Of the 51 talents, 15 of them are members of Talents Association of GMA (TAG) who were fired for “breaching the contract by not reporting for work.” The CA ruled that the 15 “are not guilty of gross and habitual neglect of duty under the Labor Code.”
SEE: GMA 7 talents launch work stoppage, protest vs. contractual labor
The rest had not renewed their contracts because some of them had “refused, failed to reply to their offer, or performed poorly.”
This is a separate case from the mother case of TAG, which the group had also won.
SEE: A win for media workers | CA affirms GMA 7 talents as regular employees
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) lauds the CA decision to reinstate the GMA workers.
“It is an important recognition of the workers’ rights to express themselves and stage protest against unjust treatment by employers,” said the union.
The NUJP calls on GMA “to respect the decision and do right by their employees.”
The group also issued the same call to other media outfits.
