Supreme Court Declares Dismissal Of Staff For Tickling Co-Worker’s Knee
SUPREME COURT – The Supreme Court recently declared the dismissal of a government employee for tickling the knee of his co-worker.
The Court said that the said employee tickled his co-worker’s knee in a manner that is rendered indecent and unprofessional, according to GMA News.
The Second Division of SC reinstated a Civil Service Commission (CSC) decision, which dismisses a close-in cameraman of the Presidential Broadcast Staff-Radio TV Malacanang (PBS-RTVM). This also forfeits his retirement benefits, and disqualifying him from reemployment in the government.
It began as an administrative complaint filed by a female employee against the suspect for harassment or grave misconduct in 2013.
The female employee claimed that six months ago, the cameraman sat beside her in the office while she was watching a noontime show. The cameraman, then, proceed to tickle her right knee and “held her” despite her protests. This caused her to to hit her elbow on a cabinet when she freed herself.
This caused her to cry and added that the cameraman taunted her afterwards rather than apologizing.
Based on the report, the cameraman admitted that he did touched his co-worker’s knee. However, he claimed that it was a joke and without malice, adding that it was not related to his work functions.
The Presidential Communications Operations Office found him guilty of simple misconduct. This was his second offense, hence, he was dismissed from service. He appealed before the CSC but also lost.
He then went to the Court of Appeals (CA), which in the year 2017, reduced the penalty to a six-month suspension without pay and benefits. Unconvinced that the cameraman was innocent, the CA took the “triviality” of the offense and his decades-long government service into account.
The SC based his length of service against him, adding that he should have set a good example to his co-employees and other civil servants rather than violating the law without shame and undermining the professionalism and integrity that is highly required from publlic servants.
It also cited that this was his second offense and that he should be dismissed from the service.
Penned by Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul Inting, the decision stated that though tickling his co-worker’s knee might have been a joke to him, it was clearly unsolicited and uncalled for, adding that it is something he “does not have any right” to do.
“Even if the act was done without malice, it is beyond all bounds of decency and decorum for a person to touch any body part of another without consent for that matter,”
The cameraman showed his “moral depravity and lack of respect towards female co-employees”, as well as his “unprofessionalism in his interactions with his colleagues” through this act.
He violated the “yardstick of public service” under the Constitution, which states the policy of promoting a high standard of ethics and utmost responsibility, especially in the public service.
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