Dear Atty. Joji,

Two of our officemates were caught having a relationship despite both being married. Can an employee be terminated from employment for engaging in extra-marital affairs?

Carla

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Dear Carla,

In the case of Santos vs NLRC [G.R. No. 115795, 6 March 1996] the Supreme Court held that when an employee engages in extra-marital relationship, especially when the parties are both married, such behavior amounts to immorality, justifying his termination from employment.

“Engaging in illicit relationships, despite being married, may constitute as just cause for dismissal on the ground of serious misconduct through immorality as evidenced by the Employee’s violation of the Company’s Employee Code of Conduct. xxx We cannot overemphasize that having an extra-marital affair is an affront to the sanctity of marriage, which is a basic institution of society. Even our Family Code provides that husband and wife must live together, observe mutual love, respect and fidelity. This is rooted in the fact that both our Constitution and our laws cherish the validity of marriage and unity of the family. Our laws, in implementing this constitutional edict on marriage and the family underscore their permanence, inviolability and solidarity.”

This was reiterated in Leus vs St. Scholastica’s College Westgrove, G.R. No. 187226, 28 January 2015, where the Supreme Court ruled that engaging in adulterous relations with another may be considered as immorality, which can be a ground for termination of employment. The determination of whether a conduct is disgraceful or immoral involves a two-step process: first, a consideration of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the conduct; and second, an assessment of the said circumstances vis-à-vis the prevailing norms of conduct, i.e., what the society generally considers moral and respectable.

Moreover, well-entrenched in our jurisprudence is the dictum that when employers issue rules and regulations operative in a workplace, they are deemed part of the contract of employment binding upon the employees who enter the service, on the assumption that they are knowledgeable of such rules. Such policies must be respected by the employees. An employer cannot rationally be expected to retain the employment of a person whose lack of morals, respect, and loyalty to his employer, regard for his employer’s rules, and appreciation of the dignity and responsibility of his office, has so plainly and completely been bared. Hence, the employer can rightfully terminate the employment of an employee who does not conform to its rules and regulations.

Hope this helps.

Atty. Joji Alonso