The Court of Appeals has dismissed the petition filed by television network giant GMA-7 seeking the reversal of the decision issued by the National Labor Relations Commission which declared 96 media talents of the television station as regular employees.
In a 19-page decision, CA Special Fourteenth Division through Associate Justice Zenaida Galapate-Laguilles ruled that there was no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the NLRC in declaring that the talents regular employees who are “entitled to security of tenure and all benefits and rights appurtenant to their status.”
The appellate court rejected the argument of GMA-7 that the NLRC failed to consider the history and peculiarity of the broadcast industry and its practice, as well as the circumstances surrounding the payment of talent fees to so-called talents, including it being glaringly high compared to the other employees of petitioners.
The CA also did not give weight to the claim of the petitioner that the NLRC misapplied the four-fold test in determining the existence of employer-employee relationship, and that their talents are considered independent contractors or fixed-term employees.
