SC: Suspension of pregnant, unmarried teacher illegal

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THE Supreme Court has reaffirmed that premarital sexual relations leading to pregnancy are not immoral and cannot justify the suspension of an employee.

The Court’s First Division made the ruling in a case involving the suspension of a teacher by a school.

The ruling, penned by Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario, deemed the suspension of grade school teacher Miraflor Mabao by the Bohol Wisdom School (BWS) as illegal.

Mabao, who was two months pregnant, was verbally suspended by the school principal, Raul Deloso, on the grounds of immorality.

Based on court records, Deloso informed Mabao she would remain suspended until she married the father of her child. Five days later, she received a written notice of indefinite suspension without pay, citing immorality as the reason.

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Mabao filed a complaint for illegal suspension, initiating a legal battle. The labor arbiter ruled that she had been legally dismissed, but the National Labor Relations Commission reversed the decision.

The case reached the Court of Appeal, which found Mabao’s suspension to be illegal, a finding that the Supreme Court upheld.

The high court stated there is no law prohibiting consensual sexual relations between two unmarried adults. The ruling emphasized that public and secular morality — not religious beliefs — should be the standard for determining what constitutes immoral conduct.

Public and secular morality refers to behavior prohibited due to its harmful societal effects rather than religious doctrines.

“If the government were to base public policies and morals on religious beliefs, it would effectively impose a religious agenda on everyone,” the Supreme Court stated. This would contravene the constitutional principle of separation of church and state.

The Court concluded that Mabao’s pregnancy could not be classified as immoral and thus did not warrant her suspension.

It ordered the school to compensate Mabao with back wages and benefits for the duration of her suspension.

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