NLRC decision junking labor raps vs Sentosa hit

A migrants’ rights group scored the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) for dismissing the charges filed by 31 health workers against Sentosa Recruitment Agency (SRA) for contract substitution. Migrante International chairperson Garry Martinez said in a statement that the NLRC decision only proves that “the Philippine government is all for defending a labor/migrants’ rights violator rather than protecting the rights and welfare of migrant workers." In a decision dated April 8, the NLRC junked the charges filed by the health workers who accused SRA of constructive dismissal and failure to pay the salaries and benefits as defined in the original contract they signed. The new decision amended the labor agency’s ruling in September last year, which favored the SRA in the case of 24 health workers, and which disfavored the agency in the case of seven others. According to the new decision, the seven workers were paid correctly or even with higher premium pay or night shift differentials. The seven were identified as Ma. Theresa Ramos, Ritchel Salve, Rizza Maulion, Jennifer Lampa, Annabelle Capulong, Maria Consuelo Gonzales and Carlo Conrad Garcia. “All employees in Sentosa are treated fairly and with due care. Sentosa did not threaten any of its employees… The feeling of oppression is only imaginary," said the 14-page decision, which was signed by presiding commissioner Gerardo Nograles according to an Inquirer.net report. Martinez of Migrante said the decision was to be expected as authorities have earlier expressed bias in favor of SRA. “It was clear the nurses will not get any justice from this government when no less than former POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz told the families of the nurses that the POEA ‘could not sacrifice the thousands of jobs in the pipeline.’ The bias for SRA was patently clear, even from the start," he said. The dispute started when Sentosa supposedly failed to fulfill its commitment to have nurses work in designated nursing homes in the US. The nurses complained that they were made to work for an employment agency and received less than what was stated in their contracts. In April 2006, some 55 nurses resigned from the Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, but many subsequently returned to work, in the fear that they will be ordered to pay SRA a $25,000 fine. Ten of the nurses, however, stood their ground and were charged by Sentosa before a court in New York. The case was subsequently dismissed. The workers have likewise won their class-action suit against SRA in US courts. According to labor laws, the NLRC dismissal can still be appealed before the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.—JV, GMANews.TV