Preventive suspension of an employee

Dear Atty. Angela,

I am an employee of a company where I was charged of committing a grave offense. I was placed under preventive suspension for 30 days during the company's investigation. When I went back to work after 26 days of not having been paid, I was issued a Notice of Decision which states that I am further suspended for another 15 days for violating the company rules in accordance with the Code of Conduct. I feel very tortured with not getting a salary for more than a month since I have a family to support. Can the 15 days suspension be deducted from the 26 days I was not made to go to work? Please help.

Lexiver

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Dear Lexiver,

Unfortunately, you cannot deduct the 15 days of your suspension to the 26 days of preventive suspension initially issued. Take note that preventive suspension and the suspension as sanction imposed against you are different in nature.

Suspension of an employee may either be 1) imposed as an administrative penalty for infractions committed or 2) preventive suspension pending investigation of an employee.

In the second kind which is preventive suspension pending investigation, the company should meet the following conditionspursuant to Sections 8 and 9, Rule XXIII, Book V of the Omnibus Rules, Labor Code:

a. The employer may place the worker concerned under preventive suspension if his continued employment poses a serious and imminent threat to the life or property of the employer or of his co-workers.

b. The preventive suspension shall not last longer than 30 days.

Preventive suspension is not a penalty but a disciplinary measure to protect life or property of the employer or the co-workers pending investigation of any alleged infraction committed by the employee. Thus, when justified, the preventively suspended employee is not entitled to the payment of his salaries and benefits for the period of suspension.

In your case, the 15-day suspension imposed after the preventive suspension is already the result of the admin investigation itself which has shown that you have committed the said infraction charged. This is now the disciplinary sanction or penalty that must be served for the commission of a company violation.

Atty. Angela Antonio