Unmarried pregnant teacher cannot be suspended — SC

Premarital sexual relations leading to pregnancy are not immoral and do not justify suspending an employee, the Supreme Court (SC) has declared.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Ricardo R. Rosario dated 23 July 2024 and published yesterday, 16 December, the SC’s First Division ruled that Bohol Wisdom School’s (BWS) suspension of Miraflor Mabao for getting pregnant outside of marriage was illegal.

Mabao was a grade school teacher at BWS, a Christian school. When she was two months pregnant, the school principal, Raul Deloso, verbally suspended her, saying it will stay until she married the father of the child she was carrying.

Five days later, Mabao received a written notice stating that she was suspended indefinitely without pay due to immorality until she married her boyfriend.

This prompted her to file a complaint for illegal suspension, wherein the labor arbiter held that she was constructively dismissed, but the National Labor Relations Commission reversed this decision.

While the Court of Appeals (CA) ruled that there was no constructive dismissal, it found Mabao’s suspension illegal.

The SC affirmed the CA’s finding of an illegal suspension, stating that sexual relations between two unmarried, consenting adults was not immoral as there is no law that prohibits this, nor does it go against any fundamental state policy found in the Constitution.

Under the law, the standard of morality applicable to all is public and secular, not religious.

Public and secular morality refers to conduct that is prohibited due to its harmful effects on human society rather than being based on religious beliefs.

The SC held that if the government were to otherwise base public policies and morals on religious beliefs, this would require everyone to conform to a religious program or agenda.

Also, the court said that since Mabao’s pregnancy cannot be considered immoral, it was not a valid ground for her suspension.

With this, the SC ordered BWS to pay Mabao the back wages and benefits due her during the period she was suspended.