5. Preventive Suspension

PREVENTIVE SUSPENSION

Preventive suspension is a precautionary measure, not a disciplinary penalty, for the protection of the company's property pending investigation of any alleged malfeasance or misfeasance committed by the employee. The employer may place the worker concerned under preventive suspension if his continued employment poses a serious and imminent threat to the life or property of the employer or of his co- workers. However, when it is determined that there is no sufficient basis to justify an employee's preventive suspension, the latter is entitled to the payment of salaries during the time of preventive suspension. (Gatbonton v. NLRC, G.R. No. 146779, 2009)

Duration of preventive suspension

Preventive suspension may last up to thirty (30) days. The employer may extend it beyond thirty (30) days if it pays the employee wages and other benefits during the extension; otherwise, the employer must reinstate the employee. (Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code, Book V, Rule XXIII, Sec. 9.)

Preventive Suspension as a Protective Measure vs. Suspension as a Penalty

Preventive suspension is not a penalty in itself. It is merely a measure of precaution so that the employee who is charged may be separated, for obvious reasons, from the scene of his alleged misfeasance while the same is being investigated.

While [preventive suspension] may be imposed on a respondent during the investigation of the charges against him, [suspension] is the penalty which may only be meted upon him at the termination of the investigation or the final disposition of the case. (PAL v. NLRC, G.R. No. 114307, 1998)