Suspended employee wants to resign, asks about quitclaims

Dear PAO,
I was suspended for two months. Now, I am thinking about resigning. About the computation of my quitclaim if I resign, our personnel said there is no formula for how much I will get. What will I get if I resign? They said it would be just my 13th month less my taxes and payables in the office? What is really the meaning of quitclaims? And how do we compute it?
Sincerely yours,
Fe

Dear Fe,
Under the law, employees who opt to resign do not get separation pay. All they are entitled to is their earned salary. Thus, to be entitled to a separation pay, the employee must have been separated or terminated from employment for a cause other that his own act or will and for specific causes as provided by the law.

It will indeed be highly onerous to require employers to pay separation pay to employees who themselves have willingly resigned from their jobs or who have done acts inimical to the employer or the latter’s business.

This is not what the law intends. Under the Labor Code, separation pay must be paid to employees who have been separated from employment not by their own fault or choice but due to the exercise of the employers’ prerogative afforded to them by law because of business exigencies or those authorized causes as specified under the law, such as installation of labor saving devices, redundancy or retrenchment to prevent losses. (Art. 283)

Therefore, if you wish or intend to resign, you cannot expect or demand to be given some financial grant from your employer.
However, if the employer, habitually grants separation pay to employees who resign such that it has already ripened to a company policy or established business practice or if such concession is stipulated in your employment contract, you may then claim for separation benefits from your employer.

Thus, the Supreme Court held in the case of Alfaro v Court of Appeals (GR 140812, August 28, 2001, 363 SCRA 799) that “(g)enerally, separation pay need not be paid to an employee who voluntarily resigns. However, an employer who agrees to expend such benefit as an incident of the resignation should not be allowed to renege in the performance of such commitment.”

Anent your query on quitclaims, no computation is provided for the same as quitclaims are not benefits but are written documents to be signed by the employee stating that he/she no longer has any right to claim against employer and as such the same is discharged of all liabilities pertaining to his /her employment.

Quitclaims are essentially akin to compromise settlements or agreements where both parties give certain concessions to each other to avoid the rigors of filing and prosecuting/defending a case.
The Supreme Court characterizes quitclaims in this wise:

It is true that the law looks with disfavor on quitclaims and releases by employees who have been inveigled or pressured into signing them by unscrupulous employers seeking to evade their legal responsibilities and frustrate just claims of employees.

In certain cases, however, the Court has given effect to quitclaims executed by employees if the employer is able to prove the following requisites, to wit: (1) the employee executes a deed of quitclaim voluntarily; (2) there is no fraud or deceit on the part of any of the parties; (3) the consideration of the quitclaim is credible and reasonable; and (4) the contract is not contrary to law, public order, public policy, morals or good customs, or prejudicial to a third person with a right recognized by law.
Our pronouncement in Periquet v National Labor Relations Commission on this matter cannot be more explicit:

Not all waivers and quitclaims are invalid as against public policy. If the agreement was voluntarily entered into and represents a reasonable settlement, it is binding on the parties and may not later be disowned simply because of a change of mind. It is only where there is clear proof that the waiver was wangled from an unsuspecting or gullible person, or the terms of settlement are unconscionable on its face, that the law will step in to annul the questionable transaction.

But where it is shown that the person making the waiver did so voluntarily, with full understanding of what he was doing, and the consideration for the quitclaim is credible and reasonable, the transaction must be recognized as a valid and binding undertaking.” (citations omitted) (Goodrich Manufacturing Corp. and Goy v Ativo, et.al., GR 188002, February 1, 2010 , citing Periquet v National Labor Relations Commission GR 91298 June 22, 1990)

Thus, the terms of the quitclaim and the consideration for affixing your signature on the same depend upon your claim and your employer’s offer. Should you choose to just sign the quitclaim and waive your right to claim against your employer, if warranted by the circumstances, the guidelines for the determination of the validity of such is set forth above. –Persida Acosta, Manila Times

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