SC - admits the employee's allegations even if they are not covered by the original complaint.
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Sub-paragraph (c) purportedly limits the coverage of the position papers of the parties to only those claims and causes of action stated in the complaint or amended complaint; [whereas] sub-paragraph (d) directs that the reply shall only allege and prove facts and causes of action contained in the original or amended complaint or in the position paper.
At this juncture, it is well to take judicial notice of the fact that initiatory complaints filed before the NLRC are just blank forms wherein the employee-complainant simply inputs his/her details, the respondent's details, and ticks off a checklist of causes of action which are applicable to him/her. It is only upon the filing of position papers that the complainant is able to expound on the employer's acts or omissions which constitute his/her causes of action against the latter..
Given the foregoing, it is only reasonable to infer that [notwithstanding] the aforementioned provision, the complaint cannot be the sole basis in determining the complainant's causes of action given that it is in the position paper that the ultimate facts are presented and established by the submission of all relevant documents and affidavits to support the same and prove their respective causes of action..
Otherwise stated, the filing of the position paper, and [not] the mere complaint, is the operative act that should foreclose the raising of matters constitutive of the employee-complainant's cause of action
The Court believes that it is for this [reason] why sub-paragraph (d) of Section 12, Rule V of the 2011 NLRC Rules allows the replies to discuss matters [not only] covered by the complaint or amended complaint, [but also] those covered by the position papers.
[ G.R. No. 231038, April 26, 2021 ]
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