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The following post does not create a lawyer-client relationship between Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices (or any of its lawyers) and the reader. It is still best for you to engage the services of a lawyer or you may directly contact and consult Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices to address your specific legal concerns, if there is any.
Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
AT A GLANCE:
Management has a wide latitude to conduct its own affairs, so long as it exercises its management prerogative in good faith for the advancement of its interest and not to defeat or circumvent employee rights under the law or valid agreements. Its management prerogative must likewise not be used in a way that is unreasonable, inconvenient, or prejudicial to the employees involved.
Constructive dismissal arises when continued employment is rendered impossible, unreasonable or unlikely; when there is a demotion in rank and/or a diminution in pay; or when a clear discrimination, insensibility, or disdain by an employer becomes unbearable to the employee. In effect, constructive dismissal is involuntary resignation due to the situation’s impossibility or unreasonableness, leaving an employee with no other option but to forego continued employment rather than trying to put up with an unbearable working environment. (Asian Marine Transport Corporation v. Caseres, G.R. No. 212082, November 24, 2021)
It exists if an act of clear discrimination, insensibility, or disdain by an employer becomes so unbearable on the part of the employee that it could foreclose any choice by him except to forego his continued employment. There is involuntary resignation due to the harsh, hostile, and unfavorable conditions set by the employer. The test of constructive dismissal is whether a reasonable person in the employee’s position would have felt compelled to give up his employment/position under the circumstances. (Pascual v. Sitel Philippines, G.R. No. 240484, March 9, 2020).
Demotion, on the other hand, is the movement from one position to another involving the issuance of an appointment with diminution in duties, responsibilities, status or rank which may or may not involve a reduction in salary, is tantamount to removal, if no cause is shown for it. Consequently, before a demotion may be effected pursuant to reorganization, the observance of the rules on bona fide abolition of public office is essential. (Bautista v. CSC, G.R. No. 185215, July 22, 2010).
For the transfer of the employee to be considered a valid exercise of management prerogatives, the employer must show that the transfer is not unreasonable, inconvenient or prejudicial to the employee. Should the employer fail to discharge this burden of proof, employee’s transfer shall be tantamount to constructive dismissal. Even the employer’s right to demote an employee requires the observance of a twin-notice requirement. (Floren Hotel v. NLRC, G.R. No. 155264, May 6, 2005).
Related Articles:
- The Supreme Court decides: Demotion, verbal abuse, and indifferent behavior by an employer that forces an employee to resign shall constitute constructive dismissal.
- Is demotion of rank in the workplace allowed?
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Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding legal services, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/ 09175772207/ 09778050020.
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