Unjust Termination

Good day, I am asking for your advise on this.

April 18, 2015 - My husband was employed as a front office associate by a hotel in our locality. Per company, their employment is on a contractual basis first and conversion to a probationary status will depend on the employee's performance. Although they say that they're contractual employees, however, they weren't asked to sign any employment contract.

June 26, 2015- My husband was called in by the HR manager. She told him to resign already effective June 30 because as she said, he was not able to meet the company's standards. He asked the HR manager what were his faults and the HR could not really point out and she just said, "Basta, management's decision". He also asked, if ever he really had lapses, why was it he never received any memo asking for his explanation. That way, he could have defended himself. Of course, my husband refused to submit a resignation letter.

June 27, 2015 - When my husband was about to report to work @ 2PM, he was told by the guard to go first to the HR office. When he got there, he was told by the HR manager to no longer go to his post as she handed him a termination letter. He was terminated effective June 28, 2015. It was stated in the termination letter that he was not able to meet the company's strict standards. He asked for a copy of his performance evaluation and was surprised that he was even graded with a "satisfactory performance". So he's really confused because how can he not meet the company's standards when he did not even fail the performance evaluation.

Questions:
1. Is there an employee-employer relationship between my husband and the company even in the absence of an employment contract?
2. Do we have a reason to raise this to NLRC? Considering that he'd been only 2 months on the job.
3. Do we have a chance of winning this case?
4. If so, what can be our relief as provided by law? Can we claim for additional damages due to the sleepless nights, anxiety, mental and emotional stress that we encountered? Considering also that we depend on him for the daily substenance of our family.

Thank you in advance.

Purpleberry wrote:Good day,  I am asking for your advise on this.

April 18, 2015 - My husband was employed as a front office associate by a hotel in our locality. Per company, their employment is on a contractual basis first and conversion to a probationary status will depend on the employee's performance. Although they say that they're contractual employees, however,  they weren't asked to sign any employment contract.

June 26, 2015- My husband was called in by the HR manager. She told him to resign already effective June 30 because as she said, he was not able to meet the company's  standards.  He asked the HR manager what were his faults and the HR could not really point out and she just said, "Basta, management's decision".  He also asked, if ever he really had lapses, why was it he never received any memo asking for his explanation. That way, he could have defended himself. Of course, my husband refused to submit a resignation letter.

June 27, 2015 - When my husband was about to report to work @ 2PM, he was told by the guard to go first to the HR office.  When he got there, he was told by the HR manager to no longer go to his post as she handed him a termination letter. He was terminated effective June 28, 2015. It was stated in the termination letter that he was not able to meet the company's strict standards. He asked for a copy of his performance evaluation and was surprised that he was even graded with a "satisfactory performance". So he's really confused because how can he not meet the company's standards when he did not even fail the performance evaluation.  

Questions:
1. Is there an employee-employer relationship between my husband and the company even in the absence of an employment contract?
2. Do we have a reason to raise this to NLRC? Considering that he'd been only 2 months on the job.
3. Do we have a chance of winning this case?
4. If so, what can be our relief as provided by law? Can we claim for additional damages due to the sleepless nights, anxiety, mental and emotional stress that we encountered? Considering also that we depend on him for the daily substenance of our family.

Thank you in advance.

1. If there is proof of employment (SSS contributions, ID card, payslip, etc) then yes.
2. Yes.
3. Yes, very much.
4. Illegal dismissal case (your husband could be considered a regular employee due to a lack of any other document to prove otherwise), and you can claim for nominal damages. If you wish to file for moral and exemplary damages, you could win that, but it would take longer - even years - to get a final decision.

Go file your complaint at NLRC and during your first 2 meetings, you can haggle for monetary compensation.

Use the performance evaluation as additional evidence of the illegal dismissal.

Thank you for your advice.

Hi, good day po! inquire ko lang din po, kasi same case ang siguradong mangyayari ngayon sa husband ko.. sa resort po xa nagtatrabaho but under an agency. Sa case ng husband ko expired na yung contract nya and he was not able to sign a new one pero pinapapasok pa din xa ng employer. pwede po ba xang magfile ng reklamo if he was terminated unjustly? pwede ba nilang gawin yun sa husband ko? we never knew what the contract contain nung nagsign xa pagkatanggap nya sa trabaho kasi hindi naman cla binigyan ng copy and hindi din inexplain sa kanila yun and they were only given a few hours to read and were not even given a chance to ask questions regarding the contract.