Fired for bad feng shui, spa worker wins damages

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the payment of back wages and damages by a popular local spa to its manager who was fired from her job upon the advice of the owner’s feng shui master.

In a decision, the high court’s second division through Associate Justice Jose Mendoza ordered the Wensha Spa Center Inc. and its president Xu Zhi Jie a.k.a. Pobby Co to pay its erstwhile administrative manager Loreta Yung full back wages when she was fired in 2004 as well as up to P100,000 in damages and attorney’s fees.

Yung recounted that on Aug. 10, 2004, she was asked to leave her office because Xu and a feng shui master were exploring the premises.

Later that day, Xu asked Loreta to go on leave with pay for one month. She did so and returned on Sept. 10, 2004.

Upon her return, Xu and his wife asked her to resign from Wensha because, according to the feng shui master, her aura did not match that of Xu.

Loreta refused but was informed that she could no longer continue working at Wensha. That same afternoon, Loreta went to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and filed a case for illegal dismissal against Xu and Wensha.

Wensha and Xu denied illegally terminating Loreta’s employment. They claimed that two months after Loreta was hired, they received various complaints against her from the employees so that on Aug. 10, 2004, they advised her to take a leave of absence for one month while they conducted an investigation into the matter.

The spa claimed that based on the results of the investigation, they terminated Loreta’s employment on Aug. 31, 2004 for loss of trust and confidence.

Ruling against the spa owner and upholding the decision of the Court of Appeals, the high court pointed out that “as correctly found by the CA, the cause of Loreta’s dismissal is questionable. Loss of trust and confidence to be a valid ground for dismissal must have basis and must be founded on clearly established facts.”

The SC’s decision reversed the findings of the labor arbiter on the matter, saying the arbiter’s ruling that Yung was dismissed due to loss of trust and confidence is “utterly erroneous as it is contrary to the applicable rules and pertinent jurisprudence.”

“The onus of proving a valid dismissal rests on the employer, not on the employee. It is the employer who bears the burden of proving that its dismissal of the employee is for a valid or authorized cause supported by substantial evidence,” the SC said.  –Benjamin B. Pulta, Daily Tribune