Dear Atty. Kathy,
I was hired in 2020 right before the Covid-19 pandemic started. When onsite work resumed in our office this year, I was surprised to receive a show-cause notice, asking me to explain why I did not disclose in my employment application that I was formerly employed with Company X for five months, which is a possible offense of “knowingly providing false information in employment application documents” based on the Code of Conduct.
I explained that the non-disclosure was not intentional and that I simply missed it even after I proofread my application.
Sadly, my employment was still terminated. I think the decision of my dismissal is unfair, especially since I have been performing very satisfactorily despite the challenges of being a new employee during the pandemic. Do I have grounds to file an illegal dismissal case?
Violet
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Dear Violet,
To be liable under the subject infraction of “knowingly providing false information in employment application documents,” the employee must have performed an overt or positive act, for example, giving false information in the application for employment. In your narration, you said that you simply missed including your employment with Company X in your employment application. Assuming that you did not actually state any false information in your employment application but merely omitted to reflect your past employment, you could not have committed the alleged infraction of knowingly providing false information in your employment application documents. Your omission, therefore, could not have been not covered by the charged infraction of knowingly providing false information.
The foregoing is based on the recent case of Nancy Claire Pit Celis vs Bank of Makati (A Savings Bank) Inc. (G.R. 250776, 15 June 2022; “Celis Case”), a bank employee who was dismissed for not disclosing her past employment with another bank in her job application. In the Celis Case, the Supreme Court ruled that it was merely a case of omission to disclose former employment in a job application, a fault which does not justify the bank employee’s suspension and eventual termination from employment.
Further, the Supreme Court also ruled in the Celis case that there must be a reasonable proportionality between the offense and the penalty. The penalty must be commensurate to the offense involved and to the degree of the infraction. To dismiss you on account of your omission to disclose former employment is just too harsh a penalty.
Given the above, and based solely on your narration of what happened, you may have grounds to file an illegal dismissal case.
Atty. Kathy Larios