Paglalagay sa empleyado sa ‘preventive suspension’

ni Atty. Persida Rueda-Acosta @Magtanong Kay Attorney | September 8, 2025

Dear Chief Acosta,  

Maaari ba talagang ilagay ang isang empleyado sa ilalim ng preventive suspension? – Lia

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Dear Lia,

Ang paglalagay ng empleyado sa ilalim ng preventive suspension ay pinahihintulutan sa ilalim ng ating batas. Ito ay tinalakay ng ating Korte Suprema sa kasong Every Nation Language Institute (ENLI) and Ralph Martin Ligon vs. Maria Minelli Dela Cruz, G.R. No. 225100, ika-19 ng Pebrero 2020, sa panulat ni Honorable Associate Justice Jose C. Reyes, Jr.:

“Placing an employee under preventive suspension is allowed under Section 8, Rule XXIII, Book V of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code, as amended. This section provides:

Section 8. Preventive suspension. The employer may place the worker concerned under preventive suspension only if his continued employment poses a serious and imminent threat to the life or property of the employer or of his co-workers.

Preventive suspension is not a penalty but a disciplinary measure to protect life or property of the employer or the co-workers pending investigation of any alleged infraction committed by the employee. Thus, it is justified only when the employee’s continued employment poses a serious and imminent threat to the employer’s or co-workers’ life or property. When justified, the preventively suspended employee is not entitled to the payment of his salaries and benefits for the period of suspension.

x x x Nevertheless, the management’s prerogative of placing an employee under preventive suspension is further temporally limited. Section 9 of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code limits the duration of the preventive suspension to a maximum of 30 days:

Section 9. Period of suspension. No preventive suspension shall last longer than thirty (30) days. The employer shall thereafter reinstate the worker in his former or in a substantially equivalent position or the employer may extend the period of suspension provided that during the period of extension, he pays the wages and other benefits due to the worker.

Section 9 is clear that the employer had the positive duty of reinstating the preventively suspended employee upon the lapse of the 30-day period sans extension. When the period of preventive suspension exceeds the maximum period allowed without reinstating the employee actually or through payroll, or when the preventive suspension is for an indefinite period, constructive dismissal sets in.” 

Samakatuwid, ang preventive suspension ay hindi isang parusa kundi isang pansamantalang hakbang sa pagdidisiplina upang protektahan ang buhay o ari-arian ng employer o ng ibang empleyado habang isinasagawa ang imbestigasyon sa anumang diumano ay paglabag na ginawa ng isang empleyado. Kaya, makatwiran lamang ito kapag ang patuloy na pagtatrabaho ng empleyado ay magdudulot ng seryoso at napipintong banta sa buhay o ari-arian ng employer o ibang empleyado. Kapag nabigyang katwiran, ang empleyadong nasuspinde ay walang karapatan sa kanyang mga suweldo at benepisyo sa panahong siya ay nakasuspinde, basta’t ito’y hindi lalagpas ng 30 araw.

Sana ay nabigyan namin ng linaw ang iyong katanungan. Ang payong aming ibinigay ay base lamang sa mga impormasyon na iyong inilahad at maaaring magbago kung mababawasan o madaragdagan ang mga detalye ng iyong salaysay. 

Maraming salamat sa iyong patuloy na pagtitiwala.