Teacher Gets Suspended After Getting Pregnant while She’s Unmarried, Supreme Court Issues Ruling
Supreme Court ruled in favor of the unmarried teacher who was suspended from work after she got pregnant out of wedlock.
Being a teacher is known as the most noble profession. It is often reiterated that there are no engineers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, and many other professionals without teachers. However, the teachers are undeniably bound by more rules as well compared with many other professions.
However, there are cases when it is quite more difficult to justify which is right and wrong. In 2016, a grade school teacher was suspended after she got pregnant while she is still yet to be married to her boyfriend.
Based on a report on GMA News, the suspended teacher was teaching language, mother tongue, physical education, arts, and writing at a Christian school. She was two (2) months pregnant when she inform the administrative team and the principal of the school where she was working about her pregnancy.
Reportedly, the teacher was later on suspended verbally by the admin who told her that she could not report back to work until she has the document that can prove that she’s married. She also received a letter telling her that she must be on an indefinite suspension without pay due to immorality.
The said unmarried teacher filed a complaint over alleged illegal suspension. However, the Labor Arbiter sided on her dismissal. It was the National Labor Relations Commission that reversed the decision.
The Court of Appeals rules that the suspension of the unmarried teacher after she got pregnant out of wedlock is illegal. CA also found that there was no constructive dismissal. Recently, the Supreme Court released its ruling over the issue.
Based on the report, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the unmarried teacher who was suspended from work after she got pregnant out of wedlock. The high court affirmed the ruling of the CA that in the said situation, it is not immoral if two people involved are two (2) consenting adults without a legal impediment.
“No law proscribes such, and said conduct does not contravene any fundamental state policy enshrined in the Constitution,” the Supreme Court decision reads.
Based on the report, the SC also reiterated that the basis of morality applied to all is public and secular and not religious. The high court stressed that the pregnany of the unmarried teacher is not a ground for her suspension.