AUSTRIA v.

NLRC
G.R. No. 124382 August 16, 1999

POINT OF THE CASE:

Relationship of the church (SDA) as an employer and the minister (Austria) as an employee is purely
secular in nature because it has no relation with the practice of faith, worship and doctrines of the church,
such affairs are governed by labor laws. The Labor Code applies to all establishments, whether religious
or not.

FACTS OF THE CASE:

The petitioner, Pastor Dionisio V. Austria was a pastor of the SDA for 28 years from 1963 to 1991 when
his services as District Pastor was terminated. The respondents The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) is a
religious corporation under Philippine Law.

The petitioner received several communications from the treasurer of the Negros mission asking him to
remit the tithes and church offerings collected by his wife as well as admit accountability and
responsibility for the said tithes and offerings. The petitioner answered saying that he should not be made
accountable since it was the officers of SDA who authorized his wife to collect the tithes and offerings
since he was very ill to be able to do the collecting.

A fact-finding committee was created to investigate and the petitioner received a letter of dismissal and
termination of his services citing misappropriation of funds, willful breach of trust, serious misconduct,
gross habitual neglect of duties and commission of offense against the person of employer’s duly
authorized representative.

Petitioner filed a complaint with the Labor Arbiter for illegal dismissal and sued SDA for reinstatement and
backwages plus damages. Decision was rendered in favor of petitioner. SDA appealed to the NLRC and
the decision was rendered in favor of the respondent. Petitioner filed a motion for reconsideration and the
decision of the Labor Arbiter dated February 13, 1993 was reinstated. SDA filed for a motion for
reconsideration stating that the Labor Arbiter has no jurisdiction over the complaint filed by the petitioner
citing Article 2 Section 6 of the Phil. Constitution, the separation of Church and State. The NLRC reversed
its ruling and dismissed the complaint of the petitioner for lack of jurisdiction. Hence the recourse of the
petitioner to the Supreme Court.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the termination of the services of the petitioner is an ecclesiastical affair and as such
involves the separation of the Church and State

RULING:

No. The matter at hand relates to the church and its religious ministers but what is involved here is the
relationship of the church as an employer and the minister (Austria) as an employee, which is purely
secular because it has no relationship with the practice of faith, worship or doctrines. The grounds
invoked for the petitioner’s dismissal are all based on Article 282 of the Labor Code.