The Court of Appeals (CA) has dismissed a suit filed by nearly 100 regular employees of a soda company after they were retrenched due to redundancy in 2018.

The CA Special First Division dismissed the petition of 93 members of Coca-Cola Femsa Phils. Inc.’s (CCFPI) Manila Sales Force Union in a 16-page decision dated November 26 and uploaded recently, saying there was no proof that petitioners were coerced into signing the deed of receipt, release, waiver, and quitclaim.

The appellate court said while the retrenched workers claimed they did not voluntarily sign the documents, “no fraud was employed in the execution of the deed and the consideration is sufficient and reasonable”.

The workers were in the pre-selling department, which markets and processes orders of stores, restaurants, and similar businesses.

They were granted 175 percent of their salary per year of service as separation pay and hospitalization and medical benefits for five years or upon reaching 65 years of age, whichever comes first, on March 1, 2018.

The workers claimed their termination was illegal and the redundancy scheme was done in bad faith.

They also argued there was no proof of losses incurred by the company and the retrenchment violated the collective bargaining agreement effective at the time that provides that in case of layoffs, preference would be given to union members and seniority would be followed.

The company countered it was forced to adopt a hybrid model since pre-sellers’ visits to potential customers do not always translate into sales, despite huge labor costs.

Under the new model, wholesalers will take over a conventional routing system (CRS) and from 131,079 outlets originally catered to by pre-sellers, 91,287 outlets would be transferred to the CRS, leaving just 39,792 outlets needing preselling.

The workers declared redundant were also rated and ranked based on tenure, performance evaluation, volume of achievements, administrative case records, and coaching clinic results. (PNA)