23/06/2021
What is constructive dismissal?
Let us first enumerate the grounds in which an employee may be terminated by the employer. Article 297 of the Labor Code provides that, an employer may terminate an employment for any of the following causes:
a) serious misconduct or willful disobedience by the employee of the lawful orders of his employer or representative in connection with his work;
b) Gross and habitual neglect by the employee of his duties;
c) Fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust reposed in him by his employer or duly authorized representative;
d) commission of a crime or offense by the employee against the person of his employer or any immediate member of his family or his duly authorized representatives; and
e) Other causes analogous to the foregoing.
If none of the grounds enumerated above exists, there may be an indication of constructive dismissal.
"Constructive dismissal is a cessation of work because continued employment is rendered impossible, unreasonable or unlikely, when there is a demotion in rank or diminution in pay or both or when a clear discrimination, insensibility, or disdain by an employer becomes unbearable to the employee. It is an act amounting to dismissal but made to appear as if it were not. Constructive dismissal is therefore a (unlawful) dismissal in disguise. The law recognizes and resolves this situation in favor of employees in order to protect their rights and interests from the coercive acts of the employer. [St. Paul Pasig College, et al. vs. Mancol and Valera, Jan. 24, 2018]
Constructive dismissal can also exist even if an employee is allowed to report for work; but, the employer intentionally placed the employee in situations that result to his being coerced into severing ties with employer (resign). An employee is considered to be constructively dismissed from service if an act of clear discrimination, insensibility or disdain by an employer has become so unbearable to the employee as to leave him with no option but to quit his job (resign).
