CASE TITLE: Intl. School Alliance of Educators v.

Quisumbing

FACTS OF THE CASE: Respondent International School, Inc., is a

domestic education institution which hires both foreign and local
teachers. Foreign-hires are paid a salary rate of 25% more than the
local-hires, as well as granted certain benefits such as housing,
transportation, and home leave travel allowance. The School explains
that the difference in salary was due to significant economic
disadvantages that foreign-hires need to endure, particularly the
“dislocation factor” and the limited tenure. When negotiations for a
new CBA was held, the legitimate labor union of the school, herein
petitioner, challenged the difference in salary rates, arguing that it was
discriminatory to Filipinos.

ISSUE: Whether or not the difference in salary between foreign-hires

and local-hires is discriminatory

RULING: Yes, it is discriminatory. The legal truism “equal pay for equal
work” is institutionalized in the country by provisions such as, but not
limited to, the Constitution’s article on Social Justice and Human Rights,
the Article 19 of the Civil Code, the Labor Code and the Intl. Covenant
on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The Court ruled that those
“who work with substantially equal qualifications… under similar
conditions, should be paid similar salaries.” To justify the difference in
salary by citing the need to entice foreign-hires is violative of the
principle of equal work for equal pay.

DOCTRINE:
Principle of equal work for equal pay: Persons who work with
substantially equal qualifications, skill, effort, and responsibility, under
similar conditions, should be paid similar salaries.