Wrongful dismissal

Dominador Awiten .

SUPERSTAR Tom Hanks is described as amiable and congenial.  He is referred to as “America’s Dad.”

But, in the 1993 movie, Philadelphia, as a dying Aids-afflicted plaintiff, at the story’s denouement, his character’s persona turns pathetic and deathly from formerly being a dashing, flamboyant lawyer.

The movie is about Andrew Beckett, an associate in a big law firm who is “ahead of the game” and  is the darling of the firm’s senior partners, whose bright future, at a wink of an eye, takes a nosedive, a reversal of fortune.

From being the star of the law firm, he is dropped like a hot potato.

Because he has Aids. 

He scouts for a lawyer to represent him in his suit for wrongful dismissal against the law firm. He approaches ten lawyers who, one by one, decline representing him. The last one, Joe Miller, a black personal injury lawyer, turns out to be homophobic and is anxious that he may contract the dreaded disease. 

When Andy admits he has Aids, Miller, the putative counsellor, promptly refuses to take on the case, and even fears that he may be at risk of infection with the virus.  Much later, Miller relents when the physician he consults, rectifies his wrong supposition, assuring him the virus does not pass by casual contact.

Jonathan Demme, who directed the film, asserts it is not about the disease, rather it is about justice, about protecting the idea that everybody is entitled to the best defense possible, by the best lawyer a client could retain, even if they loathe the client (in this case for being gay).

The jury awards the plaintiff a substantial amount for back pay, damages for pain and suffering, as well as for punitive damages.

The jury disregards the law firm’s defense that the employment of Andrew Beckett is terminated by reason of his incompetence, evidenced by the loss of a document that is necessary to a complaint to be filed in court with prescription setting in.  It turns out that the firm’s management intends such a loss to take place to justify the termination of Beckett after a partner notices a lesion on Beckett’s forehead.

There is at present a concern of the American Civil Liberties Union about how the United States Supreme Court will rule on pending cases about discrimination by reason of sex or sexual orientation.

When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted by the US Congress, the law made as illegal all kinds of discrimination; it protects even men from harassment by their female superiors.

The matter about a woman with supervisory capacity harassing her male subordinate (and ex-lover) is the subject of the 1994 movie, Disclosure, which film is based on another psychological thriller novel by Michael Crichton.

Like other Michael Crichton’s thriller novels, the man overcomes the woman’s scheming and deviousness that are rooted in her overweening ambition and pride.

In Philippine law, we have Article 282 of the Labor Code that allows for termination of employment for a just cause which is either of the following:

(1) Serious misconduct or willful disobedience of a lawful order

(2) Gross and habitual neglect of duty

(3)  Fraud or willful breach of trust by the employee

(4)  Commission of a crime against the employer, their family members, or their representatives.

For health reasons, termination is allowed under Article 284 of the Labor Code when the continued employment of the diseased employee is prohibited by law or is prejudicial to the health of the employee or his fellow employees.

There is required a certification from the competent public health authority that the disease is of such nature and at such stage that it cannot be cured within a period of six months, despite a dedicated medical attention.