Work relationship

Dear Atty. Joji,

We offered a Safety Practitioner position to an applicant, which he accepted via email. Based on his acceptance, we proceeded with his pre-employment medical, with some costs shouldered by the company. However, he later declined and said he was offered a better opportunity. There was no signed contract and he had not started work yet. Did his email acceptance create an employer-employee relationship between the company?

Joan

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Dear Joan,

An employment contract, like any other contract, is perfected at the moment the parties come to agree upon its terms and conditions, and thereafter, concur in the essential elements thereof.

An employment contract, like any other contract, is perfected at the moment the parties come to agree upon its terms and conditions, and thereafter, concur in the essential elements thereof. A contract is perfected upon the concurrence of the following requisites: (1) the consent of the contracting parties; (2) an object certain, which is the subject matter of the contract; and (3) the cause of the obligation. “Consent” is manifested by the meeting of the offer and the acceptance upon the thing and the cause which are to constitute the contract. For consent to be valid, the “offer” must be certain, and the “acceptance” must be absolute. A contract is deemed perfected from the time the acceptance is made known to the offeror. Without the offeror’s knowledge of the acceptance, there is no meeting of the minds of the parties, and thus, no real concurrence of offer and acceptance. (Paolo Landayan Aragones v. Alltech Biotechnology Corporation, G.R. No. 251736, 2 April 2025)

Further, under the law, an employer-employee relationship is generally determined using the four-fold test: (1) the selection and engagement of the employee, (2) the payment of wages, (3) the power to dismiss, and (4) the power to control the employee’s conduct. In this case, although the applicant accepted the job offer via email, he had not commenced work, no wages were paid, and more importantly, no contract or agreement formally binding both parties was signed. Thus, no employer-employee relationship was established. Jurisprudence supports the view that mere acceptance of an offer without commencement of work or execution of a formal contract does not give rise to a binding employment relationship.

Hope this helps.

Atty. Joji Alonso