Dear Atty. Maan,

I received and signed a formal job offer for a regular position and sent it back to HR the same day. The offer stated a start date a few days later. Believing I was already hired, I declined other job offers. However, before my start date, the company withdrew the offer. Does this mean an employer-employee relationship already existed, and can I take action against the company?

Renzo

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Dear Renzo,

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.

In the case of Aragones v. Alltech Biotechnology Corporation, G.R. No. 251736 (2025) the Supreme Court ruled that the employment contract was perfected as soon as Aragones signed the job offer. The fact that his start date was still three months away did not mean there was no employer-employee relationship. The delay merely postponed their obligations — Aragones to report for work, and Alltech to pay his salary. Thus, when Alltech withdrew the offer before his start date, the employer-employee relationship had already been established.

In the event the employee files an illegal dismissal case and gets a favorable decision, he shall be legally entitled to the payment of full backwages plus reinstatement (or separation pay), covering the period from the intended start date in the company until the finality of the SC’s Decision.

In light of the foregoing, it is clear that an employment contract was perfected the moment the offer was accepted and communicated to the employer. As such, the laws governing employer-employee relationships, including those on security of tenure, illegal dismissal, etc. already apply from then on.

Hope this helps.

Atty. Mary Antonnette Baudi