Source: http://www.kittelsoncarpo.com/philippines-labor-employment/termination-of-employment
Timestamp: 2015-01-30 23:17:41
Document Index: 331838934

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 285', 'Art. 283', 'Art. 284', 'Art. 279', 'Art. 282', 'Art. 283', 'Art. 284']

Philippines Termination, terminating of Employment for Employees
Audit & Assurance Human Resources Services
HR Consulting Termination of Employment
Terminating an employee in the Philippines is taken VERY seriously and can be a complex process, especially after the employee is regularized. The Philippine Constitution says, no involuntary servitude in any form shall exist except as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. In view of the prohibition on involuntary servitude, an employee is given the right to resign under Art. 285 of the Labor Code. The provision recognizes two kinds of resignation - without cause and with cause. If the resignation is without cause, the employee is required to give a 30-day advance written notice to the employer, to enable the employer to look for a replacement to prevent work disruption. If the employee fails to give a written notice, he or she runs the risk of incurring liability for damages. The same provision also indicates the just causes for resignation (with cause):
Crime committed against the person of the employee or any of the immediate members of the employee's family; and
An equality of rights exists between employer and employee. While the employer cannot force the employee to work against his or her will, neither can the employee compel the employer to continue giving him or her work if there is a lawful reason not to do so. Thus, the employer may terminate the services of an employee for just or authorized causes after following the procedure laid down by law, but the employer has the burden of proving the lawfulness of the employee's dismissal in the proper forum.
Authorized causes are of two types - business reasons and disease. The business reasons are installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy, retrenchment and closure or cessation of operation (Art. 283, Labor Code). Before the employer can terminate employment on the ground of disease, he must obtain from a competent public health authority a certification that the employee's disease is of such a nature and at such a stage that it can no longer be cured within a period of six months even with medical attention (Art. 284, Labor Code; Implementing Rules of Book VI, Labor Code).
Those hired on a temporary basis, that is, for a "term" or "fixed period" are not regular employees, but are "contractual employees." Consequently, there is no illegal dismissal when their services are terminated by reason of the expiration of their contracts. Lack of notice of termination is of no consequence, because a contract for employment for a definite period terminates by its own term at the end of such period.
As stated above, dismissals based on just causes contemplate acts or omissions attributable to the employee while dismissals based on authorized causes involve grounds - business or health - allowing the employer to terminate. A termination for an authorized cause requires payment of separation pay. When the termination of employment is declared illegal, reinstatement and full backwages are mandated under Art. 279 of the Labor Code. If reinstatement is no longer possible where the dismissal was unjust, separation pay may be granted.
From the foregoing, four possible situations may be derived: (1) the dismissal is for a just cause under Art. 282 of the Labor Code, or for an authorized cause - business reason under Art. 283 or health reason under Art. 284 - and due process was observed; (2) the dismissal is without just or authorized cause but due process was observed; (3) and there no process; (4) for a not observed.
Willful disobedience of employer's lawful orders connected with work;
Commission of a crime or offense against the employer, employer's family, or representative; and
Damages and attorney's fees if the dismissal was done in bad faith.
When the employee's position or an equivalent thereof is no longer available;
Transfer is a lateral movement that does not amount to a promotion. It constitutes a valid exercise of management prerogative, unless it is done to defeat an employee's right to self-organization, to get rid of undesirable workers, or to penalize an employee of his or her union activities. If done in good faith, management's decision to transfer an employee may not be questioned. An employee's refusal to transfer may constitute willful disobedience, a just cause for his or her dismissal.
Generally, an employer cannot transfer an employee to another place of work without prior notice. But if the urgency of the service requires a transfer, and such transfer is exercised in good faith for the advancement of the employer's interest and will not adversely affect the rights of the employee, the transfer may be undertaken even without the employee's consent.