Breakups are always hard.

This is especially true if the employee wants to resign

from the company, and seek for greener pastures elsewhere. But what if an
employee is no longer a productive team player? What if the employee violates or
disregards company policies and rules? How can the employer validly claim Its not
me, its you and initiate the breakup?
Here is a simplified list of Just Causes for Termination under the Labor
Code of the Philippines:
1. Serious Misconduct
This is when an employee purposely goes against specific company policies,
such as stealing office property or violating rules in the company handbook.
This implies wrongful intent and not just a mere error in judgment.
2. Gross Insubordination
There is gross insubordination when the employee intentionally, with bad
intent, disregards an order by the management. The order violated must be
reasonable, lawful, and must be related to those tasks in the performance of
the duties of the employee
3. Gross and Habitual Neglect of Duties
Here, what is controlling is the totality of the infractions of the employee. The
neglect of his duties must result to a repeated failure to perform his duties,
and not just because of one or two isolated instances. For instance, when an
employee constantly abandons his shift or absents himself without good
reason, then he can be rightfully terminated under this ground.
4. Fraud or Willful Breach of Trust
This is a just cause for termination when such fraud is committed by an
employee who holds a position of trust and confidence in the company. The
breach must be done by the employee intentionally and must be related in
the performance of his duties. The burden of proving the case is based on the
employer: it must be based on substantial evidence and not just based on
mere speculations.
5. Other analogous causes
Two major grounds under analogous causes are Incompetence and
Immorality. There is incompetence when the employee is seriously lagging
behind industry standards. This must be proven by factual circumstances,
and it must be based on a standard or benchmark for reference. Immorality,
on the other hand, is when the employee commits an act which is inherently
bad in itself, whether punishable by law or not. These are usually seen as
contrary to good morals and public policy.
Procedure for Termination
In General, there are 2 major requirements for termination: Notice and Hearing. If

even just one of these requirements are absent, then there is improper termination
of the employee under the law. When there is improper termination or illegal
dismissal, the employee would be entitled to back wages, damages and even
reinstatement. These could cost a lot for the company hence these 2 requirements
of law must be followed strictly.
1. First, the employee must be given a Notice of Appraisal if the ground for
his termination is among those just and authorized causes. Such notice
should contain a detailed description, outlining circumstances, dates and
reasons, which will serve as the basis for the charge against the employee.
This must be served on the employee at least 5 days before the Hearing or
Notice of Termination, so that he is given a reasonable amount of time to
prepare his defenses.
2. Second, a Hearing may also be conducted where the employee is given the
chance to present evidence and respond to the charge against him. He may
also enlist the help of a lawyer if he wants. It must be noted however, that a
hearing is no longer necessary if the employee admits responsibility for the
alleged misconduct.
3. Third and last, a formal notice is served on the employee which states the
decision of the company. This is called the Notice of Termination. This
finding states that even after considering all of the circumstances, the
grounds are still enough to justify the termination of the employee.