Republic of the Philippines

Department of Labor and Employment

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION

National Capital Region

Quezon City

EMMANUEL U. LIM,

Complainant,

- versus - NLRC CASE NO. NCR-02-00720-20

TRT GLOBAL SOLUTIONS, INC.,

DOMENIC ROMANELLI

Respondents.

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POSITION PAPER

(For the Complainant)

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COMPLAINANT, through counsel, unto this Honorable Office, most respectfully submit this
Position Paper and hereby state :
PREFARATORY STATEMENT

“The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that
every person of sense and character detests and despises it. “

- George Washington

THE PARTIES

Complainant, EMMANUEL U. LIM, of legal age, Filipino, and with residence at Lot 28, Block 17,
Simeon Street, North Olympus Subdivision, Caloocan City. For purposes of service of summons and
other processes of this Honorable Office, it is respectfully requested to be sent to the postal address of
undersigned counsel;

Respondent TRT GLOBAL SOLUTIONS, INC. is a corporation established by virtue of the laws of
the Philippines, with business address at 18F RCBC Corporate Center, 26th St. BGC, Taguig City, Metro
Manila,

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where they may served with summons and other processes of this Honorable Office.

Respondent DOMENIC ROMANELLI, is of legal age, President and CEO of TRT GLOBAL
SOLUTIONS, INC., with postal address mentioned in the above-given address, where he may be served
with summons and other processes of this Honorable Office.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Complainant filed the above-entitled case accusing above Respondents for : Constructive Illegal
Dismissal through Forced/Involuntary Resignation; Reinstatement with full backwages, benefits, and
seniority rights with claims for Moral and Exemplary Damages, and Attorney’s Fees ; and such other
claims stated in the Complaint.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

1. On September 25, 2017, Complainant was employed as Value Chain Administrator (VCA) by
Respondents, an enterprise engaged in the business of purchase and sale abroad of computer hardware
and information technology related services based in Taguig City.

A copy of the Employment Contract executed between the Complainant and the Respondents is hereto
attached and marked as ANNEX “A” to form part hereof;

2. An order from a client is catered to by a pre-assigned team by the management ultimately approved
by Respondent Romanelli and whose members are fixed to execute all functions from start to end of the
order process reduced in scheduled monthly rosters;

3. Complainant functions primarily to initiate purchase orders from overseas suppliers based on price
quotes prepared beforehand by other VCA’s who will establish prevailing market prices for each item
detailed in an order and will serve as the price bases for the subsequent purchases to be made by him;

4. Complainant performed his VCA duties from inception of employment and was served his first
violation on April 12, 2018, of which was not specified or acted upon by Respondents nor required the
former
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any explanation, written or otherwise, until date of cessation of employment on January 7, 2020;

5. Complainant was given a pay raise during his employment and was consistently earning incentives
based on his good performance up until cessation of employment on aforementioned date in the
preceding paragraph.

Copies of the Complainant’s payslips starting from September 2017 up until December 2019
are hereto attached as ANNEXES “B” TO “B-27” to form part hereof;

6. Complainant soldiered on during his tenure with the Respondents, rendered 12 hour shifts five times
a week, rendering work even during his days off and answered sudden substitutions for co-employees
who are unable to come in for work. The most challenging part of said employment is putting up with
the constant berating verbal abuses spouted by Respondent Romanelli against him or his co-employees,
whether it be face-to-face or in the Company e-mail threads, all together with bystanders and other
participants in said email threads during the latter’s stay in the Philippines for average periods of four
months a year;

7. On April 29, 2019, Complainant was made to substitute for a co-employee by the name of Peter Paul
Cruz who was also a purchasing VCA and was unable to come in for work that being it was the latter’s
rest day and that the matter was tagged as urgent;

8. Complainant immediately acted on the matter and found out that a significant portion of the said
order was priced too low as compared to prevailing market prices for said parts. Despite said issue,
Complainant was able to secure a supplier on May 16, 2019 who agreed to sell said items for the
deficient prices;
9. Since that time, Complainant constantly followed up on the supplier, but the latter ultimately cannot
sustain the ordered parts on such deficient prices and ended up complying only 80% of the order;

10. Inasmuch as it was not the Complainant’s task to see this particular order through as it was assigned
to Peter Paul Cruz in the VCA monthly roster, the former exerted best efforts to compel the supplier to
comply and at the same time search for a viable substitute supplier who would be willing to sell the
ordered parts on deficient prices;

11. Unfortunately, the pricing was terribly off and Complainant finally canceled the remaining ordered
items on October 6, 2019, sought a

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pricing re-approval from Respondent Romanelli on November 17, 2019 after deliberation and
subsequent advice from the management;

12. On December 9, 2019, Complainant received an email from Respondent’s HRAdmin containing a
written warning which recognized the issue of wrong pricing and an order to submit an explanation
within twenty four hours from such receipt and a scheduled hearing will thereafter follow to discuss the
matters stated in said written warning.

A copy of the December 9, 2019 HRAdmin email is hereby attached as ANNEX “C” to form part hereof;

13. On the following day, Complainant replied to the above-mentioned HRAdmin email with his
explanation citing the deficient pricing made by the pricing VCA John Andrew Reano and the non-return
of the issue to the purchasing VCA Peter Cruz, both of whom are originally tasked to deal with said order
as per the VCA monthly roster.

A copy of the December 10, 2019 email submission of written explanation by Complainant is hereby
attached as ANNEX ”C-1” to form part hereof;
14. On December 18, 2019, Complainant received another HRAdmin email citing another written
warning and order to submit within twenty four hours a written explanation from receipt and a
scheduled hearing will thereafter follow to discuss the matters stated in said written warning.

A copy of the December 18, 2019 HRAdmin email is hereby attached as ANNEX “D” to form part hereof;

15. That same day, Complainant replied to the above-mentioned HRAdmin email with his explanation
citing his assignment of work for that shift to pertain only to Ad Hoc tasks and that the VCA that was
supposed to follow up on the disputed Reactive Report was his fellow VCA-on-duty Mark Payapag as per
the VCA monthly roster.

A copy of the December 18, 2019 email submission of written explanation by Complainant is hereby
attached as ANNEX ”D-1” to form part hereof ;

16. Having received multiple written warnings from the Respondent’s HRAdmin, Complainant made a
request for company manual or code of conduct that provides for violation of company policies

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and forwarded that his employment contract did not provide for rules and regulations regarding
offenses with corresponding violation and penalties;

17. Brought about by the impending sense that he is being singled out by Respondents, Complainant
immediately began to undergo anxiety attacks that resulted to an ill feeling of fatigue and difficulty of
breathing right after submitting then his most recent written explanation which prompted him to also
file for a sick leave for the next two days or for December 19 and 20 of 2019. Complainant was still
instructed by management to monitor emails and be on call despite his already beleaguered physical
and mental state.
Copies of said requests dated December 18 and 19, 2019 and corresponding submission of two medical
certificates made on December 26, 2019 is hereby attached as ANNEXES “E”, “E-1”, “E-2”, and “E-3”,
respectively to form part hereof;

18. On December 27, 2019, Complainant was taken aback when he received an email sent to him by
none other than Respondent Romanelli which says:

“Ryan - Looks like we are going to have another NLRC case when we terminate him.

Yes as previously instructed he will be terminated Dec. 30 IS that correct.

Rachel - I find it interesting tat (sic) only now the team is asking for the manuals when they are under
warning. It would have been good for you to build a manual for a number of reasons including this one.

Kuya Robert to the rescue! “ (Emphasis and underscoring ours)

A copy of the December 27, 2019 email sent by Respondent Romanelli is hereby attached as ANNEX “F”
to form part hereof;

19. On January 3, 2020 and while still on holiday break, Complainant attempted to log in his company
email to monitor his pending tasks from his home and was surprised that his password was rejected by
the company server. This made him fearful, resurfacing in his mind the December 27, 2019 email sent by
Respondent Romanelli (ANNEX “F”) which shook off instantly the comfort of the recent festivities.

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Copies of laptop screenshots of Complainant’s barred access to his company email are hereby attached
as ANNEXES “G” and “G-1” to form part hereof;
20. Still dismissing in his mind the worst that could happen, Complainant immediately contacted one Al
Hayward Comprendio, an I.T. staff of the Respondents and lodged the complaint regarding his barred
access. It was at that moment when the I.T. staff mentioned that it was the management’s order to lock
him out until further notice were his fears were realized.

Copies of the screenshots of the chat thread with the I.T. staff are hereby attached as ANNEXES “H” and
“H-1” to form part hereof;

21. On January 7, 2020, few days after mustering the strength to fight back this orchestrated attempt of
the management spearheaded by no other than the Respondent Romanelli himself, Complainant
tendered his resignation letter after attempting to log in once more to do his daily tasks as VCA, but to
no avail. Respondent Company immediately accepted said resignation letter through another letter
signed by Ryan Lintag and noted by Rachel de Borja, Human Resource Head and VCA Team Lead,
respectively.

Copies of the Complainant’s Resignation Letter and Respondents’ Acceptance Letter are hereby attached
as ANNEXES ”I” and “I-1”, respectively to form part hereof;

22. After such indignation, Complainant immediately lodged his complaint through Ingle Entry
Approach (SEnA) with the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) NCR Arbitration Branch which
set the first conference between Complainant and Repondents’ representative on January 29, 2020.

A copy of the SEnA dated January 7, 2020 is hereby attached as ANNEX “J” to form part hereof;