G.R. No. 156367 AUTO BUS TRANSPORT SYSTEMS, INC.

vs ANTONIO BAUTISTA 16 May 2005 Facts: Antonio Bautista was employed by Auto Bus Transport Systems, Inc. in May 1995. He was assigned to the Isabela-Manila route and he was paid by commission (7% of gross income per travel for twice a month). January 2000 - while driving his bus he bumped another bus owned by Auto Bus. He claimed it was accidental becayse he was so tired and had not slept for more than 24 hours because Auto Bus required him to return to Isabela immediately after arriving at Manila. Damages were computed and 30% or P75,551.50 of it was being charged to Bautista. Bautista refused payment. Auto Bus terminated Bautista after due hearing as part of Auto Bus management prerogative. Bautista sued Auto Bus for Illegal Dismissal. The Labor Arbiter Monroe Tabingan dismissed Bautistas petition but ruled that Bautista is entitled to P78,1117.87 13th month pay payments and P13,788.05 for his unpaid service incentive leave pay. The case was appealed before the NLRC. NLRC modified the LAs ruling. It deleted the award for 13th Month pay. The CA affirmed the NLRC. Auto Bus averred that Bautista is a commissioned employee and he is also a field personnel hence he is not entitled to a service incentive leave. They invoke: Art. 95. RIGHT TO SERVICE INCENTIVE LEAVE (a) Every employee who has rendered at least one year of service shall be entitled to a yearly service incentive leave of five days with pay. Book III, Rule V: SERVICE INCENTIVE LEAVE SECTION 1.Coverage. ' This rule shall apply to all employees except: (d)Field personneland other employees whose performance is unsupervised by the employer including those who are engaged on task or contract basis, purely commission basis,or those who are paid in a fixed amount for performing work irrespective of the time consumed in the performance thereof; . . . ISSUE: Is Bautista is a field personnel? HELD & RATIONALE: No, he is not. Hence, he is entitled to the service incentive leave. According to Article 82 of the Labor Code, 'field personnel shall refer to non-agricultural employees who regularly perform their duties away from the principal place of business or branch office of the employer and whose actual hours of work in the field cannot be determined with reasonable certainty. As a general rule, field personnel are those whose performance of their job/service is not supervised by the employer or his representative, the workplace being away from the principal office and whose hours and days of work cannot be determined with reasonable certainty; hence, they are paid specific amount for rendering specific service or performing specific work. If required to be at specific places at specific times, employees including drivers cannot be said to be field personnel despite the fact that they are performing work away from the principal office of the employee. Certainly, Bautista is not a field employee. He has a specific route to traverse as a bus driver and that is a specific place that he needs to be at work. There are inspectors hired by Auto Bus to constantly check him. There are inspectors in bus stops who inspects the passengers, the punched tickets, and the driver. Therefore he is definitely supervised though he is away from the Auto Bus main office.