just cause

Due process under the Labor Code involves two aspects: first, substantive––the valid and authorized causes of termination of employment under the Labor Code; and second, procedural––the manner of dismissal. (King of Kings Transport, Inc. vs. Mamac, G.R. No. 166208, June 29, 2007.) Art. 277 [now Art. 294] of the Labor Code provides the manner of […]

Dismissal of employment based on loss of trust and confidence is one of the just causes under Article 297 of the Labor Code, as amended. Loss of trust and confidence is a just cause for dismissal under Article 282(c) [now 297] of the Labor Code, which provides that an employer may terminate an employment for […]

The pivotal question to answer in a claim of illegal dismissal is whether the employer’s acts amounted to serious misconduct, fraud or willful breach of trust and confidence, or were tantamount to a commission of a crime, which justified their dismissal from employment. Article 297 of the Labor Code enumerates the just causes for termination. […]

Jurisprudence is settled that in determining the sanction imposable to an employee, the employer may consider and weigh her other past infractions or the so-called totality of infractions rule. Previous offenses may be used to aggravate a subsequent infraction to justify an employee’s dismissal only if they are related to the subsequent offense upon which […]

Dismissal of employee is one of the crucial decisions of an employer. The rules have been duly established. But the mentality required in handling the dismissal situation form the perspective of the employer should be clearly understood. Where the fact of employee’s dismissal from service is undisputed by the parties, the crux of the issue […]

Although majority of dismissal cases fall within Article 97 of the Labor Code or just causes and authorized causes under Article 298 and 299, there are those that belong to uncommon grounds. Among these grounds are as follows: (See citations in Atty. Elvin’s Book Guide to Valid Dismissal of Employees Second Edition, p. 212) Any […]

An HR professional might wonder where all those offenses detailed in the company’s code of conduct would fall since they do not specifically belong to the enumeration in Article 297. This is where the catchall provision of “other causes analogous to the foregoing” comes into play. Such other causes must be analogous to any of […]

Security of tenure guarantees that an employee cannot be dismissed from employment, except for just or authorized cause. There are forms of employment where employees hold limited security of tenure. In the case of a managerial employee who is faced with investigation for willful breach of trust, he gives up the guarantee considering the rule […]

An employee must not be dismissed on the pretext of loss of trust for acts committed not in relation to his duty. To constitute a just cause for dismissal, the act complained of must be work-related and shows that the employee concerned is unfit to continue to work for the employer. Also, the act complained […]

Fraud exists only when, through insidious words or machinations, the other party is induced to act and without which, the latter would not have agreed to. Fraud is never presumed. It must be proved. It cannot be based on nebulous facts. Fraud and misrepresentation are, therefore, never presumed; it must be proved by clear and […]