The Supreme Court has established that no employee may be made to retire before reaching the age of 65 unless they give their clear and voluntary consent.
In a recent ruling from the Court’s First Division, the justices partially favored Rodolfo C. Ondevilla and declared his former school guilty of illegal dismissal. The institution had treated his employment as having ended the moment he turned 60 back in 2019—a move that the high court found unlawful.
Ondevilla began working at the school in 2004 as its comptroller and eventually rose to the position of assistant vice president for finance. Following a restructuring of the organization in 2018, he was reassigned to the post of controller—a change he viewed as a demotion, even though his pay and benefits stayed exactly the same.
On his 60th birthday, August 29, 2019, the school maintained that his term had automatically expired. Ondevilla disputed this and filed a case claiming he had been illegally dismissed.
Writing for the court, Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando emphasized: “Optional retirement must be based on a genuine agreement between the employer and employee.”
He further stated: “Workers must freely agree to retire early because doing so means giving up their right to security of tenure.”
The Court noted there was no proof the school had ever presented Ondevilla with a retirement package he could choose to accept or decline. Neither was there any signed or mutual understanding that he would leave the workforce ahead of the standard retirement age.
Instead of ordering Ondevilla’s reinstatement, the Court directed the school to pay him full backwages as well as separation pay. He was also granted retirement benefits covering his entire service period—from June 16, 2004, up to August 29, 2024, the date he finally turned 65.