Paulino Ungos III

Lawyer | Law Professor | Author

Tag: 2020-02

  • My Supervisor Committed Sexual Harassment, Not Me

    On 16 January 2009, MCP started working for LBC as a customer associate in one of its branches. The branch’s team leader and officer-in-charge, AAB, endorsed her application for the post and acted as her immediate superior.

    However, during her employment with LBC, MCP was sexually harassed by AAB.

    On 5 May 2010, MCP reported the incident to the LBC Head Office and also prepared a resignation letter in case management would not act on her complaint. Management acted on her complaint by advising her to request for a transfer to another team while they investigated the matter.

    On 8 May 2010, MCP returned to the LBC Head Office and submitted her formal complaint against AAB. MCP also reported AAB’s acts of sexual harassment to the police.

    On 14 May 2010, MCP resigned from her employment since LBC management did not immediately act on her complaint. According to MCP, she was forced to quit since she no longer felt safe at work.

    On 20 July 2010, MCP filed a complaint for illegal dismissal against LBC.

    Was MCP constructively dismissed from employment?

    The Supreme Court reiterated the principle that constructive dismissal occurs when an employer makes an employee’s continued employment impossible, unreasonable or unlikely, or has made an employee’s working conditions or environment harsh, hostile and unfavorable, such that the employee feels obliged to resign from his or her employment. Common examples are when the employee is demoted, or when his or her pay or benefits are reduced. However, constructive dismissal is not limited to these instances. The gauge to determine whether there is constructive dismissal, is whether a reasonable person would feel constrained to resign from his or her employment because of the circumstances, conditions, and environment created by the employer for the employee1Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) v. Rebesencio, G.R. No. 198587, January 14, 2015, 750 PHIL 791-846. There may be constructive dismissal if an act of clear discrimination, insensibility, or disdain by an employer becomes so unbearable on the part of the employee that it could foreclose any choice by him except to forego his continued employment.2Hyatt Taxi Services Inc. v. Catinoy, G.R. No. 143204, [June 26, 2001], 412 PHIL 295-307

    In the present case, the Court found no proof that LBC acted on MCP’s report before they issued AAB a notice to explain. The Court further found that LBC only commenced the formal investigation 41 days after MCP reported the incident. Another month passed before it held an administrative hearing for the case against AAB. 2 more months passed before LBC resolved the matter.

    The Court viewed LBC’s delay in acting on MCP’s complaint as an instance of insensibility, indifference, and disregard for its employees’ security and welfare. In failing to act promptly on MCP’s complaint and in choosing to let the resolution of the complaint hang in the air for a long period of time, LBC had shown that it did not accord her claims the necessary degree of importance, and at best considered it a minor infraction that could wait. LBC, the Court said, belittled her allegations.

    Furthermore, the Court found that during the investigation, AAB resumed his duties as usual. In the meantime, MCP was found to have consumed her vacation leaves just to avoid him while waiting for the approval of her transfer to another branch. LBC’s acts showed that it was MCP who had to change and adjust, and even transfer from her place of work, instead of AAB. For the Court, LBC created create a hostile, unfavorable, unreasonable work atmosphere for MCP.

    Stated otherwise LBC’s insensibility to MCP’s sexual harassment case was a ground for constructive dismissal. MCP was compelled to leave her employment because of the hostile and offensive work environment created and reinforced by AAB and LBC. MCP was thus clearly constructively dismissed.

    Further reading:

    • LBC Express-Vis, Inc. v. Palco, G.R. No. 217101, February 12, 2020.

  • False Report of a Patient’s Maltreatment

    Bernie was hired in November 2007 as a nursing attendant at MPI.

    On 17 March 2016, the mother of a patient appeared at MPI’s facility, demanding to see her son because earlier that day, she received a text message from someone who claimed to be a former staff of MPI, stating that the patient was being subjected to physical assault by MPI employees.

    However, upon checking the patient, no sign of physical injury was found on him.

    Consequently, the patient’s mother called the informant via speaker phone, and as she did, MPI nurses situated nearby recognized Bernie’s voice on the other end.

    MPI reviewed the relevant closed circuit television (CCTV) footage and discovered Bernie flipping through patients’ charts and copying information, which he placed inside his pocket.

    MPI then issued a Memorandum dated 9 July 2016 requiring Bernie to explain his side.

    In his letter dated 9 July 2016, Bernie denied contacting the patient’s mother and alleged that he was merely copying the vital signs of patients for endorsement.

    On 5 September 2016, MPI terminated Bernie’s employment for maliciously relaying false information to the patient’s relatives.

    Bernie then filed a complaint for illegal dismissal against MPI.

    Was Bernie’s dismissal from employment based on a valid cause?

    In Metro Psychiatry, Inc., v. Llorente1G.R. No. 245258, February 5, 2020, the Supreme Court found that the dismissal of Bernie was valid.

    The Court reiterated the principle that misconduct is the “transgression of some established and definite rule of action, a forbidden act, a dereliction of duty, willful in character, and implies wrongful intent and not mere error in judgment.”2Sy v. Neat, Inc., G.R. No. 213748, November 27, 2017 For misconduct to be a just cause for dismissal, the following requisites must concur: “(a) the misconduct must be serious; (b) it must relate to the performance of the employee’s duties showing that the employee has become unfit to continue working for the employer; and (c) it must have been performed with wrongful intent.”3Sterling Paper Products Enterprises, Inc. v. KMM-Katipunan, G.R. No. 221493, August 2, 2017, 815 PHIL 425-439

    In the present case, the Court considered the following pieces of evidence:

    • the CCTV footage where Bernie was seen copying from the records and pocketing the paper where he wrote the information;
    • MPI’s rule prohibiting employees to get hold of a patient’s personal information; and
    • the written statements of MPI nurses who recognized Bernie’s voice on the speaker phone as the latter talked to the patient’s mother.

    According to the Court, Bernie’s suspicious actuations of copying a patient’s personal information and using it to malign MPI by relaying a false narrative were indicative of his wrongful intent. His actions comprised serious misconduct because as a nursing attendant, he had access to private and confidential information of MPI’s patients, but he did not only illicitly copy the personal information of a patient of MPI, he also used the information to fulfill a deceitful purpose. The Court added that an unauthorized use of a patient’s personal information destroys a medical facility’s reputation in the industry and in this case, could have even exposed MPI to a lawsuit. Coupled with the statements from MPI nurses who had no ill motive against Bernie, the Court found that Bernie’s “connection to the incident catapulted from a mere speculation to reasonable certainty.”

    For the Court, MPI was justified in terminating Bernie’s employment.

    Further reading:

    • Metro Psychiatry, Inc., petitioner, vs. Bernie J. Llorente, G.R. No. 245258, February 5, 2020.