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ITM a new employment contract[16] which stipulated that the latter contracted him as
Superintendent or in any capacity within the scope of his abilities with salary of
SR5,112.00 and allowance of SR2,045.00 per month. Under this contract, Dagasdas
shall be placed under a three month probationary period; and, this new contract shall
cancel all contracts prior to its date from any source.
On February 11, 2008, Dagasdas reported at ITM's worksite in Khurais, Saudi Arabia.
[17] There, he was allegedly given tasks suited for a Mechanical Engineer, which were
foreign to the job he applied for and to his work experience. Seeing that he would not
be able to perform well in his work, Dagasdas raised his concern to his Supervisor in
the Mechanical Engineering Department. Consequently, he was transferred to the Civil
Engineering Department, was temporarily given a position as Civil Construction
Engineer, and was issued an identification card good for one month. Dagasdas averred
that on March 9, 2008, he was directed to exit the worksite but Rashid H. Siddiqui
(Siddiqui), the Site Coordinator Manager, advised him to remain in the premises, and
promised to secure him the position he applied for. However, before Dagasdas' case
was investigated, Siddiqui had severed his employment with ITM.[18]
In April 2008, Dagasdas returned to Al-Khobar and stayed at the ITM Office.[19] Later,
ITM gave him a termination notice[20] indicating that his last day of work was on April
30, 2008, and he was dismissed pursuant to clause 17.4.3 of his contract, which
provided that ITM reserved the right to terminate any employee within the three-month
probationary period without need of any notice to the employee.[21]
Before his repatriation, Dagasdas signed a Statement of Quitclaim[22] with Final
Settlement[23] stating that ITM paid him all the salaries and benefits for his services
from February 11, 2008 to April 30, 2008 in the total amount of SR7,156.80, and ITM
was relieved from all financial obligations due to Dagasdas.
On June 24, 2008, Dagasdas returned to the Philippines.[24] Thereafter, he filed an
illegal dismissal case against GPGS, ITM, and Aramco.
Dagasdas accused GPGS, ITM, and Aramco of misrepresentation, which resulted in the
mismatch in the work assigned to him. He contended that such claim was supported by
exchanges of electronic mail (e-mail) establishing that GPGS, ITM, and Aramco were
aware of the job mismatch that had befallen him.[25] He also argued that although he
was engaged as a project employee, he was still entitled to security of tenure for the
duration of his contract. He maintained that GPGS, ITM, and Aramco merely invented
"imaginary cause/s" to terminate him. Thus, he claimed that he was dismissed without
cause and due process of law.[26]
GPGS, ITM, and Aramco countered that Dagasdas was legally dismissed. They
explained that Dagasdas was aware that he was employed as Network Technician but
he could not perform his work in accordance with the standards of his employer. They
added that Dagasdas was informed of his poor performance, and he conformed to his
termination as evidenced by his quitclaim.[27] They also stressed that Dagasdas was
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