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Six employees who were dismissed by a Clark casino in 2007 are about to get their work back. This is the decision of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) who ordered the company owned by Hong Kong Jack Lam in Clark Freeport Zone, to reinstate the six Filipinos it dismissed in July 2007 and to pay them their back wages too.

Kong Jack Lam’s company is the Clark Resort Travel and Amusement Corp., who operates the Fontana Casino and Leisure Park. The decision of the NLRC’s sixth division, which was promulgated on May 18 and released last Wednesday, ordered the company to take back Lourdes Agustin, Rowena Capati, Wendelina Dalusong, Princes Sarah Mariano, Saturnino Deinla and Dionisio Ayson as shift and pit managers.

Arlene de Guzman, Fontana public relations officer, has yet to say if their office would contest the decision or not. The NLRC’s decision said that the employees should be back to their “former position without loss of seniority rights,” and it also said the workers should be paid their wages from the time of their dismissal.

The NLRC however, rejected the demand of the employees for P1 million in moral damages and P1 million in exemplary damages each. “Suffice it to state that they failed to adduce the quantum of proof required for such claims to be awarded in their favor,” it said.

But the group however was allowed by the NLRC to get attorney’s fees, which will be 10 percent of the amount to be awarded. While the full amount was not stated, the six employees used to receive between P20,000 and P30,000 a month.

The NLRC’s decision was based on the findings that there was no proof that the six employees have connived with Annabel Agustin, a card dealer, in alleged irregularities in the casino.