A former high-ranking Filipino bank executive recently won a constructive illegal dismissal case at the arbitration court of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) against Standard Chartered Bank, the oldest international banking institution in the country.
In her grievance, the Filipino executive complained she was allegedly pressured into resigning to give way to a female Malaysian expatriate favored by the chief executive officer, Mahendra Gursahani.
In its decision, the NLRC agreed with the Filipina executive that her resignation was not freely and voluntarily made, but forced upon her by two male expat principals at the bank who allegedly subjected her to extreme bullying and pressure.
The labor arbiter ordered Standard Chartered Bank to immediately reinstate the Filipina executive who was awarded back wages and attorney’s fees of almost P12 million. The case started from the bank’s former CEO giving the Filipina executive an annual performance appraisal mark that glaringly, the NLRC decision concluded, had no factual basis, was hazy, vague and even preposterous.
The expat CEO then appointed, as replacement for the Filipina, a female expat who was his former colleague and personal friend from his previous assignment in the Middle East. It was the first time in the institution’s 140-year history in the Philippines that the department and the position—to which an understanding of both the local culture and media network is critical—was given to a non-Filipino.
The CEO has left the Philippines in January this year to transfer to Standard Chartered Bank’s operations in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the female expat he hired to replace the Filipina has also since followed the CEO to his new assignment base.
The NLRC Arbiter’s decision concluded the bank’s claims were preposterous, given the Filipino’s sterling educational and work credentials, career successes and work accomplishments prior to leaving the bank.
The Filipina executive graduated with honors (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines, which is ranked as among the best in the Philippines and Asia Pacific.
The executive further made a mark in TV and radio broadcasting before employment at the bank.
The NLRC decision found strong merits that the CEO employed bullying and pressure, and abused his authority and power to cruelly play upon the very real Filipino sense of hiya and kapit sa patalim by shaming and humiliating the Filipino executive until it left her with no choice but to resign.