By REY G. PANALIGAN
A female Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), who was sexually harassed and maltreated by her employers in Saudi Arabia and had to escape but got injured in the process in 2015, finally got her relief from the Supreme Court (SC) after both the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and the Court of Appeals (CA) denied her pleas.
In a decision issued last July but made public only last week, the SC directed the employers – First Step Manpower Int’l. Services, Inc. Mohammad/Elnor Tapnio – to pay OFW Donna B. Jacob the following:
- “The amount equivalent to her salary for the unexpired portion of her contract.
- “Moral and exemplary damages in the amount of P50,000 and P25,000, respectively.
- “Attorney’s fees equivalent to 10 percent of the monetary awards.
- “An interest of six percent per annum of the total monetary awards… computed from the time the complaint was filed until its full satisfaction.”
The decision, written by Associate Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen, stated:
“Finally, this Court notes with disappointment the unreasonably high bar that the majority in the Commission (NLRC) and the Court of Appeals set for a Filipina to prove sexual harassment and maltreatment from her foreign employers in a household setting.
“It betrays a lack of appreciation of context or an insensitivity to the plight of our Overseas Filipino Workers.
“The consistent statement affirmed under oath, the medical certificate submitted from the injuries she sustained, her attempt to find succor with the representatives of the respondent, and the sad reality that many women steel themselves in order to work abroad by cleaning the houses of others just so that their families can have a better life here should have been enough.
“We are not unaware of the suffering that petitioner may have endured not only from her maltreatment but from how her case was misappreciated by the Commission and the Court of Appeals.
“We can only hope that our judgment today can contribute to her healing and her family’s redress.
“The dignity of all workers is a value that we all should protect. It is definitely protected under our laws.
“WHEREFORE, the Petition is PARTLY GRANTED. The October 24, 2016 Decision and February 6, 2017 Resolution of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 146028 are REVERSED and SET-ASIDE.
“The September 4, 2015 Decision of the Labor Arbiter is REINSTATED in so far as it ruled that petitioner Donna B. Jacob was constructively dismissed and that respondents First Step Manpower Int’l. Services Inc., Muhammad, and Elnor Tapnio are ordered to pay her salary for the unexpired portion of her contract, with MODIFICATIONS that she is adjudged entitled to moral damages, exemplary damages, and attorney’s fees.”
In 2014, Jacob signed a two-year contract with First Step Manpower to work as a household service worker in Riyadh, Saudi Araya with a salary of $400 a month.
In 2015, she was deployed but stayed briefly with her employers. She claimed her male employer attempted to sexually abuse her, while her female employer maltreated her.
She declared that she escaped and went to her agency’s counterpart in Riyadh where she met a fellow OFW. She again escaped from her agency through a window in the bathroom. But she said she fell and injured her spinal column.
After surgery, she was brought to the “Bahay Kalinga” of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
In March 2015, she appeared before the Office of the Labor Attache where she signed a “final settlement” document and was later repatriated to the Philippines.
In July 2015, she filed a case for illegal dismissal before the labor arbiter of the NLRC. The arbiter found that she was constructively dismissed as she was able to categorically relate how her foreign employers’ hostile and unbearable conduct forced her to leave.
Also, the arbiter did not give credence to the “final settlement” certification because “apart from being mere photocopies, its authenticity and due execution was contested.”
But the NLRC reversed the arbiter’s ruling on appeal made by First Step Manpower.
Jacob elevated the issue before the CA which upheld the NLRC’s ruling. She then appealed before the SC.
Ruling in favor of Jacob, the SC declared:
“The courage of a Filipina to work as a household helper in a foreign land deserves much more than a cursory evaluation of the evidence on record.
“Failure of the Court of Appeals to appreciate the totality of the evidence which supports the claim of sexual harassment, maltreatment, and involuntary escape is definitely grave abuse of discretion correctible by this Court.”
