The Supreme Court in the Philippines turned down a petition filed by a repatriated overseas Filipino worker who sued her recruitment firm for unpaid wages following the pre-termination of her two-year contract.

The Court’s Second Division upheld the decisions of the Court of Appeals and the National Labour Relations Commission (NLRC) which said Gemma G. Bilbao "failed to sufficiently show grave abuse in holding that petitioner was not illegally dismissed and is therefore not entitled to her monetary claims".

According to the Philippines News Agency, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals September 2020 decision, noting that Bilbao did not substantiate her allegations against Meccaj Manpower International Services.

In 2014, Bilbao left for Saudi Arabia. After two months, she was transferred to another employer for whom she worked until her repatriation in August 2015. Bilbao arrived in the Philippines in 2015 and in 2017 she filed a complaint for underpayment of salaries; unpaid eight months’ salary equivalent to Saudi Riyal 12,000 (USD 3,200) transportation expenses; and maltreatment. She later amended her complaint to include illegal constructive dismissal.

The first employer was allegedly not satisfied with Bilbao's work attitude and performance. In discontinuing her employment, she was given two options: Pre-termination of the contract with one-month salary and repatriation or a new employer until the completion of her two-year contract.

She chose the second option for more than a year without a complaint from either party. Her employment was interrupted when she requested to go home for medical treatment.

"Other than photocopies of her contract of employment and of her passport showing her arrival in the Philippines on 24 August 2015, no proof was submitted to support her allegations of having been illegally dismissed, constructive or otherwise, and of having been maltreated, physically or verbally," the Court of Appeals said.