High Court upholds COA ruling on NTA employees’ benefits

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that employees of the National Tobacco Administration (NTA), who were hired after the enactment of Republic Act 6758 or the Salary Standardization Law in 1989, are not covered by educational benefits.

In a 28-page decision penned by Justice Romeo Callejo, the High Court upheld a decision of the Commission on Audit (COA) disallowing the payment of education benefits to these NTA employees.

The High Court said COA did not commit grave abuse of discretion in deciding to disallow the grant of the educational assistance incentive bonus (EAIB) to NTA employees who were hired on or after July 1, 1989 when RA 6758 took effect.

More than 200 NTA employees, led by union president Robert Ambros, asked the Supreme Court to set aside two COA decisions on the matter.

The NTA employees argued that the COA decisions had no legal basis.

Ambros and his fellow employees insisted that they should not be treated differently from those who were hired before July 1, 1989 based on the principle of equal pay for substantially equal work.