THE Supreme Court (SC) on Friday upheld the principle that once a job offer is accepted, an employer-employee relationship is established.
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, the SC’s third division ruled that an employment contract was perfected as soon as the employee signed the job document.
The High Tribunal also cited the Labor Code which provides that redundancy refers to a situation where an employee’s position is no longer necessary due to the actual requirements or needs of the business.
However, it emphasized that employers must provide indisputable evidence to justify terminating an employee due to redundancy.
“It is not enough for a company to merely declare redundancy; it must produce adequate proof of such redundancy to justify the dismissal of the affected employees, such as but not limited to the new staffing pattern, feasibility studies/proposal, on the viability of the newly created positions, job description, and the approval by the management of the restructuring,” the decision stated.