filling for damages

Good day!

There was an employee who expressed his desire to resign on a monday, and i said to at least give us 15 days, so that we can find a replacement. he waited till satuday, and said that he will no longer report for work on monday, so i said that we cannot release his pending salary right there and then. he has to wait. then come monday, we receive a letter from nlcr for money claim filed by the employee.

can we file damages against the employee and the attorneys fee on top of the damages?

He did not wait for 30 days and he has the nerve to file at nlcr.

We have no intention in getting his back pay, but he has to wait.

Please advice if we have a fight on this.

Thanks

If you or any of his head has signed his resignation letter, your doomed. but if not, you could argue that you tagged him as AWOL. Give him due process

Send him NTE via registered mail. NTE should be at least 5days to explain. It is important that you state the following: Schedule of Administrative Hearing and Venue (should be  5 Days after)

In our company, we send NTE thrice to be safe but 1 is ok since in the labor code, it is only required to have twin notice.

The 2nd notice should be  Termination Notice. Should be or at least 1 month from date of NTE serve to be safe.

You may use this article (285)
http://ph-news.com/?p=1567


Are you an HR like me?
Always remember that documentation Labor Code knowledge is really important if you want to win cases over such modus (a lot of employees are making this a modus now-a-days. Go AWOL and file a case in NLRC)

Hi HR Adviser. Thank you so much for your reply.

We have a small merchandising business. Sole proprietorship. He did not write a resignation letter. He just told me that he wants to resign to study(in the middle july! Liar.)
His position is vital to our business because he is the one delivering the merchandise to the stores. Now, I have pending delivery to stores (hopefully they wont cancel the orders) and a case filed in NLRC. His action greatly affected the operation of my business and I have pay him?! this is so unfair.

Why did the NLRC even allowed this, he clearly stated in the SENA that he was employed until July 27, 2013 and his SENA filling was July 29, 2013. Only 2 days! July 28 was even a sunday. Can't they advise the employee to wait for 30 days? its in the labor code!

By the way, what is NTE?

Yes you can file for charges against him

It is clearly stated in Article 285 in the labor code. You may check this link:
http://ph-news.com/?p=1567

NTE stands for Notice to Explain



When is your SENA hearing schedule?
If your company could afford to hire an HR with a thorough background on Labor Code and labor cases, much better so that you could be well represented during SENA (since an HR may represent the company during SENA hearing)

PS. NLRC must cater to an employee who complains. I'm just wondering why he is now in the NLRC where in fact, he filed for SENA in DOLE. and SENA is processed for a month. If the case is not resolved after 1 month, it is the time when an employees formally files it in NLRC.

In my opinion, your employee just wants to get money from your company. But if I were your HR, I'd file counter charges against him and declare him AWOL and Terminated (following Due process)