Management's Right to Dismiss Employees

The law in protecting the rights of the laborer authorizes neither oppression nor self-destruction of the employer.

While the Constitution is committed to the policy of social justice and the protection of the working class, it should not be supposed that every labor dispute will be automatically decided in favor of labor. Management also has its own rights, which as such are entitled to respect and enforcement in the interest of simple fair play. Out of its concern for those with less privileges in life, the Supreme Court has inclined more often than not toward the worker and upheld his cause in his conflicts with the employer. Such favoritism, however, has not blinded the Court to rule that justice is in every case for the deserving, to be dispensed in the light of the established facts and applicable law and doctrine. (Mercury Drug Corporation vs. National Labor Relations Commission, G.R. No. 75662, Sept. 15, 1989)

No employer may rationally be expected to continue in employment a person whose lack of morals, respect and loyalty to his employer, regard for his employer's rules and appreciation of the dignity and responsibility of his office, has so plainly and completely been bared. (Makati Haberdashery, Inc. vs. National Labor Relations Commission, G.R. No. 83380-81, Nov. 15, 1989)

The right of the company to dismiss its employees is a measure of self-protection. (Reyes vs. Minister of Labor, G.R. No. 48705, Feb. 9, 1989)