Thief sued me

I need advice whether should I need a lawyer, or common sense will prevail if I decide to wing it in NLRC.

We received a letter from NLRC for an employee about illegal dismissal, money claims, and illegal deduction.

Our claim is he wasn't dismissed illegally because we had reason to believe that he was charging our customers Service Charge, without the knowledge of the management, and disbursing the amount to his other accomplices (which I hope translates to theft.)

Before his termination, we had an investigation, and from it we got a confession from several employees including the complainant (audio recording), copy of the order slips, witnesses, and video recording of said witnesses that admits that all the info that was presented to them regarding the incident is true (video to show that they weren't forced; the matter was explained to them in a manner they would understand; and given them freedom to refuse to sign the document if they think it was false).

Again, I have an audio recording of the complainant admitting he was part of the service charge issue. My concern is if it would be enough to dismiss the case in NLRC? Will I still have problems with the money claims, or does qualified theft excludes him from receiving any amount? Should I totally sue him for theft after?

1. You should file a criminal complaint for theft NOW. The filing of the theft case will look like an afterthought if you wait so long for the NLRC complaint to continue until its culmination before you file. You did not have to wait until the employee complained.

2. Did you follow the two written notice rule? One notice to explain, and after the explanation, one notice of termination?

even if he admitted to stealing you still need to follow the twin notice rule. remember we have a law that doesn't care if you are right or wrong but you still need to follow procedure

Unfortunately, i wasn't able to follow the double notice rule (because of his absence after the issue was found out). We did invite him to explain himself (which is audio recorded), and once admitted to the theft, my boss decided to terminate him then and there. Is there nowhere around this? And if we lose in NLRC, can we still contest it in a higher court? Thanks for the replies!

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you will be asked to pay nominal damages to the employee for not following the proper procedure. you can appeal but the lawyers fees would probably be more costly than the judgement. furthermore unless you can prove that you followed procedure you'd probably lose your motion for reconsideration/appeal

The procedure is mandatory. Having a valid ground to terminate him is one thing. Following the proper procedure in effecting the termination is a whole new story. Try reading this. I hope this helps. https://www.alburovillanueva.com/dismissal-termination-employment