Loss of Trust and Confidence Arises where the Employee Misrepresented that the Irreconcilable Cash Count and Transaction Receipts Tallied
Loss of trust and confidence to be a valid cause for dismissal must be based on a willful breach of trust and founded on clearly established facts. The basis for the dismissal must be clearly and convincingly established but proof beyond reasonable doubt is not necessary. (Bristol Myers Squibb (Phils.) Inc., v. Baban, G.R. No. 167449, 594 Phil. 620, 628 (2008).)
Further, loss of confidence as a just cause for termination of employment is premised from the fact that an employee concerned holds a position of trust and confidence. This situation holds where a person is entrusted with confidence on delicate matters, such as the custody, handling, or care and protection of the employer’s property. But, in order to constitute a just cause for dismissal, the act complained of must be “work-related” such as would show the employee concerned to be unfit to continue working for the employer. (Guide to Valid Dismissal of Employees by Atty. Elvin B. Villanueva, page 181, citing Caoile vs. NLRC, 299 SCRA 76 (1998).)
In the case of The Peninsula Manila and Sonja Vodusek vs. Jara (G.R. No. 225586, July 29, 2019), the Supreme Court (SC) held that the case record shows the willfulness of the employee’s action showing the breach of the trust reposed in him by the company.
The case involved irreconcilable cash count and transaction receipts. The employee in said case deliberately made it appear that the same tallied and even misrepresented such fact to his supervisor. To be able to do this, he tampered with the transaction and sales receipts to come up with a balanced cash sales record at the end of his shift. For the SC, this is pure dishonesty and clearly a violation of the trust reposed in him by his employer.
By willful, it is meant that the action was voluntary and intentional. To be sure, the employee never claimed that he was forced to do what he did. He committed the dishonest act of his own free will and despite knowledge that he may face liability therefor, even the extreme penalty of losing his job.
The employee in the Peninsula case maintains that he kept the money in his office locker because in a previous similar incident involving a hotel employee, the employee was excused for keeping the money and turning it over only afterwards.
The supervisor himself was completely unaware that said employee did not remit the complete cash sales for the day and had even kept the money in his locker. It is of no moment that he did not actually cart away the money or misappropriated it.
The breach of the employer’s trust occurred at the precise moment that the employee tampered with the sales record and misrepresented to his supervisor that he was able to balance the cash transactions with the cash on hand. Keeping of the money in his office locker was just a result of his dishonest act.
Loss of confidence as a ground for dismissal is prone to abuse because of its subjective nature. It is necessary that the loss of confidence must be founded on clearly established facts sufficient to warrant the employee’s separation from work.
Hence, when the breach of trust or reason for the loss of confidence is clearly borne by the records, as in this case, the right of the employer to dismiss an employee based on this ground must be upheld.
See sample NTE for Loss of Trust and Confidence or Willful Breach of Trust Here.
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