there could be no illegal dismissal as the termination was effected during the
agreed probationary period.
The law in point is Section 6, Rule 1, Book VI of the Omnibus Rules
Implementing the Labor Code, thus —
Probationary employment. There is probationary employment where the
employee, upon his engagement, is made to undergo a trial period during which
the employer determines his fitness to qualify for regular employment, based on
reasonable standards made known to him at the time of engagement.
Probationary employment shall be governed by the following rules:
x x x x
(c) The services of any employee who has been engaged on
probationary basis may be terminated only for a just or authorized
cause, when he fails to qualify as a regular employee in accordance
with reasonable standards prescribed by the employer.
(d) In all cases of probationary employment, the employer shall make
known to the employee the standards under which he will qualify
as a regular employee at the time of his engagement. Where no
standards are made known to the employee at that time, he shall be
deemed a regular employee.
Indeed, an employer, in the exercise of its management prerogative, may
hire an employee on a probationary basis in order to determine his fitness to
perform his work. The employee’s services may be terminated for a just cause or
for his failure to qualify as a regular employee based on reasonable standards made
known to him at the time of his engagement.[25]
Anita was employed as a domestic helper on a probationary basis. Her
foreign employer interviewed her through telephone calls and apprised her of the
terms and conditions of her employment as househelper. Upon her arrival at her
employer’s house inTaiwan, her employer apprised her again of her duties as
househelper.[26]