NO SEPARATION PAY

Hi,

I would like to seek legal advise regarding our situation.

I am working in a BPO industry and was hired for a project based account last January, 2014. Me and colleagues signed a new contract with the company for the same project-based account last July, 2014 in which it stated that our contract will end by July, 2017. For some reason, (a reason which was not disclosed to us) the client of the said account informed our company their intent to terminate the project by November 2, 2015 (which is still in the middle of our contract with them). The company informed us of the said termination a month prior and thus, we are not entitled to any separation pay because the account was project-based and that it is co-terminus with the project. They have compared our situation with the Gadia Vs. Sykes (another BPO company) case in which Gadia's petition was denied. The petition was whether or not they were project-based employees .

We clearly understand that our contract with the company is project-based and that it will terminate sooner that what was expected. My question is, are we not really entitled to any separation pay even though they terminate the contract earlier than what was stated? Second, do we have a higher chance of winning this, in case we take legal actions.

I hope you can give us a clear understanding about what steps to take regarding this situation.

Thank you,
Richell

Unless provided for by company policy, separation pay is given only in 3 situations:

1. Retrenchment
2. Redundancy
3. Retirement

Your situation might not fall into any of the above.

Unfortunately, project employees are not entitled to separation pay because you are co-terminus with the project.