BASIC PRINCIPLES VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION

Voluntary Resignation
Resignation is defined as the voluntary act of an employee who finds himself
in a situation where he believes that personal reasons cannot be sacrificed in
favor of the exigency of the service and he has no other choice but to
disassociate himself from his employment. (Virgen Shipping Corp. vs.
Barraquio, G.R. No. 178127, April 16, 2009 citing Valdez vs. NLRC.)
The key is that resignation must be a voluntary act, and that the
employee must have knowingly and voluntarily dissociate himself from his
employment for his own personal reasons. It does not cover cases where the
employee is forced to resign with the use of threats, intimidation, coercion or
manipulation, or where resignation is imposed as a penalty for an offense.
The common practice of allowing an employee to resign, instead of
terminating him for just cause so as not to smear his employment record,
also fall under the category of voluntary resignation. (See J Marketing Corp.
vs. Taran, G.R. No. 163924, June 28, 2009).
Resignation Notice
The Labor Code requires the employee to give an advance notice to the
employer of his intention to resign. The notice of resignation must be in
writing and must be served to the employer at least one month prior to the
effective date of his resignation.
Resignation notice usually takes the form of a letter (commonly called
resignation letter) addressed to the employer, expressing the employees
intention to terminate his employment. It must state the date when
resignation is to take effect because of the 30-day notice requirement under
the law. It may also contain the reason or justification of the employee for
filing his resignation, although legally, this is not important. The employee
may resign for whatever reason, or even for no reason at all. Thus, in legal
parlance,
voluntary
resignation
is
also
called
termination
by
employee without just cause.

Resignation letter normally contains explicit words expressing employees

intention to terminate his employment. However, lack of explicit words
stating the employees intention to resign is deemed not crucial, as long as
the employees intention to resign can be deduced from letter itself. In one
case, the Supreme Court held that a memorandum written by the employee
containing his deep resentment towards his superior juridically constituted a
letter of resignation. Even if the employee did not expressly indicate his
intention to resign (neither of the words resign or resignation was
mentioned), the resentful and sarcastic tone of the memorandum was held
to be sufficiently indicative of such intention.
Effect of Failure to Tender Resignation Notice
If the employee fails to give the employer one month advance notice of his
intention to resign, he may be held liable for damages.
Instances when Notice of Resignation is Not Required
The employee may resign even without serving any notice on the employer
for any of the following reasons:
1. Serious insult by the employer or his representative on the honor and
person of the employee;
2. Inhuman and unbearable treatment accorded the employee by the
employer or his representative;
3. Commission of a crime or offense by the employer or his
representative against the person of the employee or any of the
immediate members of his family; and
4. Other causes analogous to any of the foregoing.
Resignation under any of the instance enumerated above is also called
termination by employee with just cause.

Separation Pay
An employee who voluntarily resigns from his work is not entitled
to separation pay. There is no provision in the Labor Code which
grants separation pay to voluntarily resigning employees.
Separation pay as a rule is paid only in those instances where the severance
of employment is due to factors beyond the control of the employee. Thus,
in case of retrenchment to prevent losses where the employee is forced to
depart from the company due to no fault on his part, separation pay is
required by law to be paid to the dismissed employee.
The case is totally different in case of voluntary resignation where severance
of employment is due to employees own initiative. The law does not oblige
the employer to give separation pay if the initiative to terminate employment
comes from employee himself.
However, by way of exceptions, there are at least two instances where an
employee who voluntarily resign is entitled to receive separation pay, as
follows:
1. When payment of separation pay is stipulated in the employment
contract or Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA, for companies with
existing bargaining agent or union);
2. When it is sanctioned by established employer practice or policy.
In Hinatuan Mining Corporation, et al. vs. NLRC, et al., G.R. No.
117394, February 21, 1997, the court ruled viz.:
It is well to note that there is no provision in the Labor Code which grants
separation pay to voluntarily resigning employees. Separation pay may be
awarded only in cases when the termination of employment is due to:
(a) installation of labor saving devices,
(b) redundancy,
(c) retrenchment,
(d) closing or cessation of business operations,
(e) disease of an employee and his continued employment is
prejudicial to himself or his co-employees, or

(f) when an employee is illegally dismissed but reinstatement is

no longer feasible.
In fact, the rule is that an employee who voluntarily resigns from
employment is not entitled to separation pay, except when it is
stipulated in the employment contract or CBA, or it is sanctioned by
established employer practice or policy. [Citations omitted.]
In Lilia Pascua, et al. vs. NLRC, et al., G.R. No. 123518, March 13, 1998, the
Supreme Court, reiterated that:
The grant of separation pay, however, is inconsistent with existing
employment or voluntary resignation, for it presupposes illegal dismissal.
Special cases
In addition to the exceptions cited above, there are other cases where the
court may award separation pay to voluntarily resigning employee. For
example, in Alfaro vs. CA, G.R. No. 140812, August 28, 2001, the Court
ordered the payment of separation pay despite holding that the employee
voluntarily resign from service, and although such payment was not
mandated under the CBA or employment contract. Same conclusion was
arrived at in J Marketing.
In both of the above cases, the employer agreed to give separation pay to
the employee as an incident of the latters resignation, but later on renege in
the performance of such commitment. The Court held that such practice
should not be countenanced.
In Alfaro, the Court ruled as follows:
Generally, 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.
References
1.

Article 285, Labor Code of the Philippines