Dear Atty. Kathy,

We have an employee, E, who just resigned. In his resignation letter, E said that he is grateful to the company and his colleagues for the experience and learnings for the past year. However, during the exit interview, E said while indeed he is grateful to the company and his colleagues, he will be filing a constructive dismissal case because according to him, he was repeatedly humiliated by his immediate superior, who did not address the occupational safety and health concerns in the manufacturing plant where he is assigned; and despite working in the company for a year, he still has no employment contract. Are these claims sufficient to establish constructive dismissal against the company?

Phoenix

Dear Phoenix,

According to the Supreme Court, constructive dismissal exists when continued employment has become so unbearable because of acts of clear discrimination, insensibility or disdain by the employer, that the employee has no choice but to resign; and that the test of constructive dismissal is whether a reasonable person in the employee’s position would have felt compelled to give up his position under the circumstances.

Since mere allegation is not evidence, there must be proof establishing that the employee resigned because staying on the job had become impossible or unreasonable. The complainant must, therefore, prove by substantial evidence that he/she was illegally dismissed.

Substantial evidence is that amount of relevant evidence that a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to justify a conclusion. Thus, the employee, E, has to show that his resignation was not of his own free will and constituted constructive dismissal. This means E should show that the company took clear actions to dismiss him, or that they intended for him to be separated. Otherwise, a mere narration, without corroborating proof, will be insufficient to sustain a claim of constructive dismissal against the company.

(Jose Edwin G. Esico versus Alphaland Corporation, et al., G.R. No. 216716, 17 November 2021)

Atty. Kathy Larios