Illegal Dismissal

Hi Atty,

I need some help here, my husband was illegally dismissed by his current employer only after 15 days in service. First they didn’t have him sign a contract. The officer in charge would always tell him that they will only call him to report to the office for contract signing. By the way his work is to recruit seaman in Kalaw, so from his first day of work he always report in Kalaw (their office is in Ortigas). Then on the 15th day of the month, his boss called him and told him to bring the company phone which was issued to him little he know that he will have to surrender it because he is already fired. The reason of his boss why he is being fire is that because there is no progress in the recruitment in Kalaw. Please take note that even on my husband’s first interview with them, they didn’t inform him that the position they are offering is a trial and error position. They didn’t even offer him another job in the company.

My husband now has no job and we can’t afford to have him jobless. He left his previous company because he was offered a big salary by his current employer only to find out that he was deceived. We already filed a case in NLRC and the preliminary hearings were already set.

My question is, do we have a chance to win this case? My husband latter found out that he is not the first victim of their scam. They will use people (mostly their cadet to be a recruitment officer in Kalaw promising them that after a certain number of “approved” recruits, they will be on board already, but at some point they will find a way to dismiss the said cadet).

My second question is how much can we demand if they agreed to settle it on the first hearing? His salary in that company is 25K net as discussed with him on his final interview before he accepted the offer and started to work with them.

Hoping for your immediate response.


Thank you and God bless.

first, can he prove that he was an employee of the company?

the absence of a contract raises the presumption he was a regular employee.

he was able to save some of text messages from his boss, will that be enough evidence?

he can file his case and just make the most of what evidence he has.

Thanx Atty. by the way can you please elaborate what u meant when u say "the absence of a contract raises the presumption he was a regular employee".. You mean he is entitled for whatever benefits a regular employee has. And if we won this case he can demand for a back pay plus benefits?

What if they tried to settle it on the first hearing, how much can he ask for settlement?

Again thank you for your time and advice.

God bless!

he should be conservative in asking for a settlement.

Hi Attorney,

Been working in a callcenter for 1year and 8 months. The company became very stiff for using mobile phones in the floor. 1st instance is a verbal warning, 2nd instance is a 2nd written warning, 3rd instance is final warning while 4th instance is termination. I am rendering 30 day resignation effective 22 oct 2011. I received my 2nd and 3rd warning on the same day 29.Sept.2011 w/ a 24-48 hour notice to explain, I did not explain myself since I know that I really did use my mobile phone inside the floor. My boss was absent 30.Sept.2011 when the security saw me charging my phone inside the floor. when my boss came back to the office I was absent due to lbm for 2days. He spoke to me 07.Oct.2011 when I came back and he served me the memo for 2nd written warning and final warning, has an acknowledgement from ES same date for both 30.Sept.2011. And after a while he served me my termination for the incident 30.Sept.2011. he asked me to submit an explanation w/ in 24-48 hours so that it can be investigated for 5 days but no assurance that I cannot be terminated. so he asked me if I am not willing to render 5 more days for investigation I can waive my right to explain and accept the sanction for the said offense. So just to summarise it all, I signed my 2nd written warning, final warning and termination on the same day. Is this legal? if not, I would like to bring this to DOLE. I hope you can help me on this. Thank you.

so you really used your phone 4 times?

yes i did.

if i were handling the case, I would argue that the rule is too harsh. you have the right to question your termination at nlrc, but as to the probable outcome- it' a bit iffy because of the repetitive offenses.