TRUE STORY of a Sad Employee: Labor Rights Awareness

Yesterday was no ordinary day. Shit was all over me. I was never in the mood - lack of sleep and real bad news. You see, when I am stressed out by a major problem, I don't usually talk. I think, deep. So deep that it will give me a headache. So I did suffer from one. 

I smell that what would take place yesterday would finally happen. But, I allowed it to happen. In my defense, it was not my fault. If you would come to think of it, it's not really hard to understand. And so the story of a very sad employee... 

An employee, admitted by a company started working without any contract of employment signed. If you have read my previous post regarding Labor Laws, you will learn that there are four factors that will determine whether or not an employer - employee relationship is established: hiring, wages, control and termination. If all these four are present, then by all means, you are hired. Take out any one of them except the power of control (which is a power exercised by the company/person who took you into the job), you are still considered an employee. This means to say, if there was no contract of employment signed, nor pay slips given, but work is still controlled, you are still an employee. 

Moving on with the scenario, without any contract, the employee started to perform the job he was designated. There were no proper pay slips given every pay day and most of the time, payments are delayed. In fact, there was no 'safety' so to speak with regards the release of the company's pay. As the company grows old, these old habits seem too hard to kill. 

But then again, because of the fun and enjoyment that this employee has experienced, he let these old habits go on for quite awhile. Until one day, when a client shouted at him in public. While the employee was just as unhappy that day as that of the client he was dealing with, being finger pointed in public may still be considered a very rough day. At the end of the day, the employee got home and left alone to fend for himself. Although the immediate boss was supportive to him, the big boss seem to be nonchalant about what took place. It was 'just' a time to move on. 

In as much as the employee did not want to make a big deal out of what took place on that public place that day, the point being was, he was hurt. Out of real and sincere emotions, he filed his resignation, effective immediately - final and irrevocable, directly to the big boss thereby bypassing his immediate superior. There was only one question he received from the big boss: perhaps, you wanna reconsider?

Without the employee's knowledge, the resignation letter he sent to the big boss was made available for other persons to read, and yes, including the wife and it was made public. They sent the resignation letter to the immediate superior of the employee and the employee's immediate superior expressly did not approve the resignation. From the date the resignation letter was filed and sent until the end of the month, this worker continues to do his job as if there was no resignation letter sent. In fact, he was still included in all the electronic conversations and continues to be present during company meetings. 

Until pay day comes -- 

As usual, the pay day was released a day late than the usual. The worst part was, he wasn't given a pay check. Before going on, let me tell you one thing:

The company where this employee was employed outsourced the payroll making to an agency whose owner happened to be the wife of his big boss and who is also holding some position in the company where the employee is employed. The agency who takes care of the payroll of all employees does only that and nothing more. IN SHORT: the employees of the company where the worker in this instant case belongs is not in any way connected nor hired by the agency whose services (payroll making) is outsourced. Point blank, the responsibility and duty of the agency is only ministerial in character. There is nothing else that empowers the agency to WITHHOLD nor DELAY the payment among the employees of the company that outsourced its services. UNLESS, there is some directive coming from the Manila Office (main branch) or an advise from the Big Boss in the branch office to do so. BUT THERE WAS NONE. 

And so, pay day comes. An agent was sent to meet up with the employee and his immediate superior who were working off the office that day because apparently, it was a Saturday. The agent informed the employee that the owner of the agency (the wife of the big boss of the branch office/company where the employee is employed) did not allow the release of the employee's pay until such time that the employee will finish all the pending works that still must be done. Rephrasing that, it was like asking the employee to wait for another month before he gets his pay for the current month. 

The immediate boss, tried to appeal the issue to the good sense of the big boss but the big boss had no idea at all that the employee was not paid. He thought that everything went well for all of them. When the immediate superior of the employee called up the main office in Manila to inquire about the withholding of salary issue, he was also surprised that Manila (the main office) did not even know that there was a resignation letter sent by the employee, subject of this controversy. The big boss in the branch office simply said that he will talk to the wife the moment he gets home. TIME CHECK: 5:30, Saturday, STILL NO PAY for the worker. And the day ended without a pay. The big boss emailed that night that he cannot entertainment and be out of focus 'just' because of the issue and that he left everything (payroll issues) to be handled by the agency. 

NOTE: The email violates the very good sense of the Labor Code. An employer may outsource the payroll making to an agency for practicality and economic reasons but decisions concerning wages of employees (whether it should be released or not) should be coming from the employer and not from the agency whose job is just to release the salary once it is in. Sadly, the employee was informed by the agent that actually, his salary is already available only that the agency withheld it for some unfounded reasons. 

Up to this day, the employee received no pay. Holy Week it is and this means holiday for everyone. The worker went home sad yet summarizing up all his rights provided by the Labor Code. 

PS: Shit happens, but c'mon, REALLY? People these days are already aware of their labor rights. It's a matter of acting decently and giving these employees what is due to them. I would never question why until today, violation of these rights still happen - because there are still employers who don't know how to handle their employees, for whatever their WORTH!