Security of Tenure in the Philippines

I'm surprised to find out that there seems to be a low awareness level among workers and yes, among HR practitioners, on the concept of security of tenure. We recently conducted a quick survey on employment practices and dismissal regulations among human resource practitioners and workers/union members to get some opinion on whether or not changing the existing regulations on termination will gain public support. 

Majority of the respondents are not in favor of amending the existing regulations specifically on the proposal that an employee can be terminated from work without any just or authorized cause. Of course, nobody wants the concept of termination at will! No one in his or her right mind will accept such concept. Not in the Philippines where 2.9 million are unemployed! 

Going back to the survey, respondents were asked of their idea about security of tenure. Unfortunately, most of them provided wrong answers and some did not even have any idea about the matter. Some made comments that security of tenure refers to: 

• The longer the employee works in the company, the more the benefits he/she will get

• Continues employment after complying with the required probationary and training period

• The length of service in the company/the number of years working in the company 

• Opportunity to have a regular status of employment 

• Good working condition 

• Assurance of holding the position for longer period of time 

• The right not to be terminated if the employee is a union member 

• Receiving due benefits in time of retirement         

The answers provided by the respondents are far from the true and legal concept of security of tenure, which simply means that an employee cannot be terminated from work for causes other than those provided by the Labor Code e.g. just and authorized causes and without due process. And so what are these causes?  A lot to enumerate but in the next few days I'll try to elaborate the causes here.