Backwages

Dear Atty. Angela,

I was a probationary cashier in a hotel restaurant for five months and when my performance evaluation was released, I was given satisfactory ratings that met the standards. However, one of the managers did not like me and to my shock, I was not regularized. I know I did my best at work and I think it is unfair that I was not regularized. What legal steps can I take and will I be paid for the time that I was unjustly removed from work?

Lesley

Dear Lesley,

For being unjustly removed, you can file a case for illegal dismissal.

It is settled under the law that even if probationary employees do not enjoy permanent status, they are accorded the constitutional protection of security of tenure. This means they may only be terminated for just cause or when they otherwise fail to qualify as regular employees in accordance with reasonable standards made known to them by the employer at the time of their engagement.

In the recent case of C.P. Reyes Hospital v. Barbosa, G.R. 228357 (2024), the employee was found to have been illegally dismissed, finding that the numerical passing marks given by her evaluators showed she successfully met the company’s standards.

The Court here clarified that illegally dismissed probationary employees, like regular employees, are entitled to backwages up to their actual reinstatement and not only until the end of their probationary period.

The Court also held that both the Constitution and the Labor Code did not distinguish between regular and probationary employees in guaranteeing the right to security of tenure. It added that the mere lapse of the probationary period without regularization does not by itself sever the employment relationship. Without any valid grounds to dismiss a probationary employee, there is no basis to terminate the employment.

Thus, as you were unjustly dismissed, you should be paid backwages from the time you were illegally dismissed until you are reinstated to work.

Atty. Angela Antonio