Question Forced Resignation

Sir/Ma'am:

Good day.

I would like to ask about my situation. I am a government employee and I submitted my application to another position within the agency on March 12, 2020 (the day of announcment of ECQ). Before that, I informed my head about my intentions to apply for another position and she told me that I had to resign (end my contract) because there is a "policy" in the agency that employees of lesss than 1 year had to resign from their current postion if they will apply to another position (to another division/section) within the agency. She also added that it is for the purpose of creating a new job posting for my current positon once I am hired in my aspiring position, so they will not wait for a long time to have me replaced. I questioned the "policy" that she said, but still obliged because I really want to pursue my application.

But because of the ECQ, my application is postponed. They still made my resignation official. I don't have a job for almost a month now, in the middle of this pandemic. I don't know what to do. Please help me. Is it also legal to force their employees to resign when they want to apply for another position? What if the employee was not hired? They'll just let the employee go without a choice to keep his/her current job?

Relevant to your query are the following provisions on resignation under the 2017 Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions (2017 ORAOHRA), revised July 2018 which read, thus:

“Sec. 104. Resignation. Resignation is an act of an official or employee by which he/she voluntarily relinquishes in writing his/her position effective on a specific date which shall not be less than thirty (30) days from the date of such notice or earlier as mutually agreed upon by the employee and the appointing officer/authority. To constitute a complete and operative resignation of an official or employee, there must be a written intention to relinquish the office, the acceptance by the appointing officer/authority and a written notice of such acceptance duly served to the official or employee concerned.

“Resignation shall be governed by the following rules:

“a. An official or employee is deemed to have tendered his/her resignation upon receipt by the appointing officer/authority of the former’s written resignation.

“b. Pending receipt by the official or employee of the action taken by the appointing officer/authority on the resignation, the official or employee shall remain in office and retain all the powers, duties and responsibilities appurtenant thereto.

“c. The appointing officer/authority shall act on the notice of resignation within 30 days from receipt thereof. In case the resignation of the official or employee remains unacted upon for 30 days from receipt of the formal letter of resignation by the appointing officer/authority, it shall be deemed complete and operative on the specified date of effectivity or 30 days from submission thereof, in cases where the effectivity date is not specified. It is understood, however, that the required clearance from money, property and work-related accountabilities shall be secured by the official or employee before or immediately after the date of effectivity of resignation.

“d. In the interest of service, however, the appointing officer/authority may set a date of effectivity of the resignation, but in no case shall be earlier than the date specified in the letter of resignation or 30 days from submission thereof.

“e. The acceptance of resignation is mandatory. The appointing officer/authority may suspend the effectivity date of resignation despite its initial written notice of acceptance due to any of the following reasons:

“1. When the country is at war or when any other national or local emergency has been declared by the appropriate authority; and

“2. When it is necessary to prevent loss of life or property or in case of imminent danger to public safety due to an actual or impending emergency caused by serious accidents, fire, flood, typhoon, earthquake, epidemic or other disaster or calamity.

“3. A resignation previously suspended due to any of the abovementioned reasons shall nonetheless be effective 30 days after the circumstances causing the previous suspension has ceased as certified by the appropriate authority or the appointing officer/authority.

“f. If the last day of the period given to the appointing officer/authority to act and furnish copy of the written action on the tendered resignation falls on a holiday or non-working day, copy of the written action shall be furnished the official or employee concerned on the next working day immediately following a holiday or non-working day.

“g. The official or employee concerned may withdraw the tender of resignation any time prior to receipt of notice of acceptance of the resignation from the appointing officer/authority or before the lapse of the 30-day period given for the latter to act on the resignation, whichever comes first.

“h. Until the resignation is accepted, the tender of resignation is revocable. Once the resignation is deemed complete and operative, the withdrawal thereof shall not automatically restore the employee to his/her former position.” (Underlining supplied)

Further, should you pursue, the legal remedies of appeal or administrative complaint may also be available upon compliance with certain requisites set under the 2017 Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service (2017 RACCS) (CSC Resolution No. 170177 dated July 3, 2017, which you may download at www.csc.gov.ph .

Thank you and keep safe!