Dear Atty. Kathy,

During one of our town hall meetings, I raised a concern with the Management of our Company, about my team's concerns on the unfair approval/disapproval and scheduling of our vacation leave applications compared with those of the other teams. This did not sit well with our Department Supervisor who approves/disapproves our vacation leave applications, because the following working day after the town hall meeting, as soon as I arrived at work, my Supervisor angrily told me: "You are no longer needed by the Company and you are dismissed! Gather your things from your desk and leave the office immediately!" Because of this, I immediately filed an illegal dismissal case against the Supervisor and the Company. However, when I told the HR Manager about my case, she said that I was never issued a written notice of termination, therefore, there was no dismissal, much less an illegal one. Is the HR Manager correct?

Alina

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Dear Alina,

In illegal dismissal cases, before the employer must bear the burden of proving the dismissal was legal, the employee must first establish by substantial evidence the fact of his dismissal from service. If there is no dismissal, then there can be no question as to its legality or illegality.

Based solely on your narration, you were angrily told by your Supervisor that you were already dismissed and no longer needed by the Company, and that you were to gather your things at your work desk and leave the office immediately. As ruled by the Supreme Court in the case of Marlon Butial Agapito vs Aeroplus Multi-Services Inc. and Mitzi Therese P. de Guzman (G.R. 248304, 20 April 2022), such spoken words immediately followed by an unequivocal order for you to get out of the office, speak for themselves, and that what happened to you is an outright termination of employment without just cause and due process.

Further, as an illegally dismissed employee, you are ordinarily entitled to reinstatement without loss of seniority rights and other privileges, or in lieu thereof, separation pay equivalent to one month for every year of service, with a fraction of at least six months considered as one whole year, from the time of the employee's illegal dismissal up to the finality of the judgment; and full backwages inclusive of allowances and other benefits or their monetary equivalent computed from the time compensation was not paid to the time of his or her actual reinstatement.