TATEL V.

JLFP

G.R. No. 206942, February 25, 2015

Prepared by: Porciuncula, Juan Paulo A

TOPICS: PUTTING A SECURITY GUARD IN FLOATING STATUS FOR MORE THAN 6 MONTHS
AMOUNTS TO CONSTRUCTIVE DISMISSAL

FACTS
On March 14, 1998, respondent JLFP Investigation Security Agency, Inc. (JLFP), a business
engaged as a security agency, hired Tatel as one of its security guards. Tatel filed a complaint for
underpayment of salaries and benefits against the respondent.
Thereafter, respondent put the petitioner on floating status on October 24, 2009. On May 4, 2010,
after 6 months, Tatel filed another complaint for illegal dismissal.
LA dismissed the complaint for lack of merit. NLRC reversed the decision saying the act of pulling
out of assignment is an actual dismissal. Ca reversed the same saying it is not amounting to actual
dismissal.
ISSUE
Whether or not Tatel is illegally dismissed?

RULING
Yes, Tatel is constructively dismissed by putting him on floating status exceeding 6 months.
Constructive dismissal exists when an act of clear discrimination, insensibility, or disdain, on the
part of the employer has become so unbearable as to leave an employee with no choice but to forego
continued employment, or when there is cessation of work because continued employment is rendered
impossible, unreasonable, or unlikely, as an offer involving a demotion in rank and a diminution in pay.
Here, Tatel is discriminated from given assignment because he filed a complaint for underpayment
against the security agency. The Court finds that he was constructively dismissed on October 24, 2009, as
adverted to elsewhere, considering that he was still given a last detail at the IPVG from October 21 to 23,
2009. In any case, six (6) months have already lapsed since Tatel was last given any assignment, hence,
he is deemed to have already been constructively dismissed when he filed the instant case on May 4, 2010.
Hence, as a security guard, being put in floating status for more than 6 months from last
assignment, Tatel is deemed constructively dismissed.