Common legal questions
Real problems, answered in plain language, with the law behind each answer. Start here if you are not sure which statute you need.
Work & Employment
I went AWOL. Can my employer just consider me resigned and keep my last pay?
No on both counts. Absence alone is not abandonment, because the employer must also prove a clear intention on your part to sever the relationship, and it must still run the two-notice process before dismissing you. Your earned wages and pro-rated benefits are yours regardless, though days you did not work are unpaid.
My employer is making my job impossible so I will quit. Is that constructive dismissal?
Yes — if a reasonable person in your position would feel compelled to give up the job, the law treats it as a dismissal even though you were the one who walked. The usual signs are a demotion, a cut in pay or benefits, an unexplained transfer, or treatment so hostile that staying is unbearable, and the burden is on the employer to prove the change was legitimate.
My contract keeps getting renewed every five months. Am I already a regular employee?
Very likely yes. Regular status under Article 295 depends on what you actually do — if the work is necessary or desirable to the employer's usual business, you are regular no matter what the contract is titled or how many times it was cut short, and a contractor that supplies you without substantial capital or real control makes the principal your employer by law.
Can my employer withhold my final pay if I resign without 30 days' notice?
No — your employer cannot keep your final pay as a penalty for short notice. DOLE requires final pay to be released within 30 days of separation, and the most an employer may lawfully do is deduct actual, proven damages you caused.
I was fired on the spot with no notice or hearing. What can I do?
Dismissal requires two written notices and a real chance to be heard, so being fired on the spot is procedurally defective at minimum. If the employer also cannot prove a just cause, the dismissal is illegal and you are entitled to reinstatement plus full backwages.
What is the difference between holiday pay and premium pay, and what am I owed on a holiday?
Holiday pay is the 100% of your daily wage you receive on a regular holiday even without working; premium pay is the extra percentage added when you do work on a day you were not supposed to. On a regular holiday you get 200% for the first eight hours, while a special non-working day is no-work-no-pay and 130% if you work it.
How is 13th-month pay computed, and what counts as basic salary?
Add up the basic salary you actually earned during the calendar year and divide it by twelve — that is the whole formula, and it is due on or before 24 December. Overtime, holiday premium, night differential, allowances and COLA are excluded from basic salary, and you get a pro-rated share even if you resigned or were dismissed partway through the year.
How much maternity, paternity and solo parent leave am I entitled to?
Under RA 11210 a female worker gets 105 days of paid maternity leave for a live childbirth however she delivers, 120 if she is a solo parent, and 60 days for a miscarriage or emergency termination of pregnancy, with an option to extend 30 days unpaid. Up to seven of those days can be transferred to the father, which stacks on the separate seven days of paternity leave under RA 8187 for married employees.
Am I entitled to night shift differential, and how is it computed?
Every covered employee is owed at least 10% of their regular wage for each hour worked between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, and it is a floor rather than a ceiling. It stacks on top of overtime, rest-day and holiday premiums, so the 10% is computed on the rate applicable to that day and not on your plain ordinary rate.
What is the correct overtime rate, and can my company make me waive it?
Work beyond eight hours on an ordinary day is paid at your hourly rate plus 25%; on a rest day, special day or holiday it is the hourly rate applicable to that day plus 30%. An agreement to waive overtime pay is void, and undertime on one day can never be offset against overtime on another.
Am I automatically regular after six months of probation?
Yes, in two ways. Probation cannot exceed six months from the day you started, and an employee allowed to work past it becomes regular by operation of law; separately, if you were never told the standards for regularisation at the time you were engaged, you are deemed a regular employee from day one.
Can I resign immediately, or do I really have to render 30 days?
The default is 30 days' written notice, but the Labor Code lets you walk out the same day in four situations — serious insult, inhuman treatment, a crime committed against you or your family, and causes analogous to those. Outside those, your employer can waive the notice or hold you liable for damages it can actually prove, but it cannot refuse to let you go.
When am I entitled to separation pay, and how much is it?
Separation pay is owed when you are let go for an authorised cause, not when you resign or are dismissed for a just cause. Redundancy and labour-saving devices pay one month per year of service; retrenchment, closure not due to serious losses, and disease pay half a month per year of service, with a fraction of at least six months counted as a whole year.