Statement of Clarification regarding the Voluntary Arbitration (VA) Tribunal's decision on the Leave of Absence (LOA) Complaint

Ateneo Complies with the Order

As a dutiful corporate citizen, Ateneo de Manila University is committed to voluntarily comply with the Order of the Voluntary Arbitration (VA) Tribunal, issued on 16 October 2024 and received by the University counsels on 31 October 2024, in relation to AC-997-RCMB-NCR-LVA-21-02-09-2023. At the time of this publishing, the University’s legal counsel, being its official representative in said proceedings, and the Union officers are in the Execution Conference at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board-National Capital Region (NCMB-NCR) Branch threshing out the mechanics of the Writ of Execution to “...reimburse the amount of illegal deductions related to LOA¹ from the time of first deduction until the last time of deduction; pay moral and exemplary damages; and pay 10% of the total monetary award as attorney’s fees.” 

Flexible Work Arrangement: A Pandemic Pivot 

The Union’s monetary claim of “illegal deductions” stems from the University’s recovery of salary advances made to the employees who were placed on Flexible Work Arrangement during the pandemic. Maintenance work was dramatically reduced then as a result of government directives on community quarantine and because this type of work could only be performed onsite. There was no need to clean empty classrooms and spaces that were not used due to the shift to online classes and work. The Flexible Work Arrangement was thus considered to mitigate the direct impact of these on the maintenance staff.

Working Around the Pivots

To alleviate the situation of the maintenance staff, the University provided work on rotational schedule starting 8 June 2020, and extended to them the use of their unearned emergency leaves, vacation leaves, and sick leaves for the weeks that they were not scheduled to report for work.

Ateneo and Union’s Agreed Arrangement

When the leaves were exhausted by September 2020, the University implemented a “no work, no pay” policy.  In the first week of its implementation, affected employees reached out to HR (at that time, OHRMOD²) and sought some relief to be able to earn when they did not have any work schedules. On behalf of their members, the Union officers met with HR and agreed on a scheme that would cushion the impact of the application of “no work, no pay.” To wit, to be able to pay the affected employees, they were treated as if they were working on the week that they did not have a work schedule or on LOA; but, only 3 days of LOA were deducted from them while 3 days of salary advances were provided to them. This arrangement went on until the end of fiscal year 2020-2021 as a fresh set of leaves can again be used by employees to cover weeks when they did not have work. 

Recovering What Is Owed

The consideration extended by the University to the affected employees through their Union officers was coupled with the understanding that whatever salary advances the affected employees received would be recovered upon the resumption of full workload. It is within this context that the University presented only a sample computation to the VA to illustrate the recovery of salary advances. With compassion for its employees, the University extended consideration by providing them with salary advances to tide them through the challenges of the pandemic; and it is with a clean conscience that these salary advances were recovered. 

VA Decision:  Pending Review with the Court of Appeals

Even as this VA decision is set for implementation pursuant to Sections 3 and 4, Rule VIII of the 2021 Revised Procedural Guidelines in the Conduct of Voluntary Arbitration Proceedings, the University filed a Petition for Review with the Court of Appeals on 25 September 2024 docketed as the case of Ateneo De Manila University vs. Ateneo De Manila University Employees and Workers Union (CA G.R. SP No. 185429) seeking a review of the VA Decision. Thus, this effort for the truth, fairness, and justice is not yet over; and the University’s compliance with the Order of the VA is without prejudice to restitution in case its Petition is granted by the Court of Appeals. 

¹ Leave of Absence without Pay
² Office of Human Resource Management and Organization Development