Dear Atty. Kathy,

My father was hired to work abroad in Saudi. He signed an employment contract for 18 months, which says that he will receive a salary of 5,000 Saudi Riyals (SAR) per month. However, when he started working in Saudi, my father was given 4,500 SAR monthly only. To make matters worse, at the end of his contract, the employer did not want my father to return yet to the Philippines. He was only allowed to return when he complained to the authorities. My father now wants to complain to the DoLE for the unpaid portion of his salaries. Is he entitled to any other remedy for the non-payment of his full salaries?

Tristan

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Dear Tristan,

Your father may also be entitled to moral and exemplary damages and attorney’s fees.

As ruled by the Supreme Court, moral damages are recoverable if the party from whom it is claimed has acted fraudulently or in bad faith, or in wanton disregard of his or her contractual obligations. As for the award of exemplary damages, this is proper by way of example for the public good.

Based solely on your narration, it appears that your father’s employer breached its obligation to pay the 5,000 SAR per month salary of your father and for his repatriation to the Philippines upon the expiration of his employment contract. Under such circumstances, the Supreme Court has deemed it proper to award the employee moral and exemplary damages in the amount of P50,000 each.

In addition, your father would also be entitled to attorney’s fees of 10 percent of the total monetary award, since your father would be forced to litigate to protect his rights which were unjustly violated by his employer.

Further, according to jurisprudence, a legal interest at the rate of 6 percent per annum on the total monetary awards due your father would also be imposed, reckoned from the date of finality of this judgment until the same are fully paid.

(Stephanie A. Maitim, et al., versus Teknika Skills and Trade Services, Inc., et al., G.R. No. 240143, 15 January 2025.)

Atty. Kathy Larios