Terminated while pregnant. No reason given. Singapore Employer. Can i file civil

Under Philippine labor laws, an employer cannot terminate the services of an employee simply because the employee happens to be pregnant. This is considered an act of discrimination against women because getting pregnant is not a disease, not a disability and not a gross misconduct.

Having said that, ikaw ay isang OFW, I presume? And this means that you have a POEA- approved contract and you left the Philippines for Singapore through an employment agency?

Kasi, if you are an OFW and there was an agency that recruited you and deployed you in Singapore, you can sue the agency here in the Philippines for the discriminatory termination of your employment. Kasi nga, the agency here in the Philippines stands in place of the Singaporean employer.

But, if you were directly hired by the Singaporean employer and you don't have a POEA approved contract and no agency recruited or deployed you, when you have repatriated to the Philippines from Singapore, you cannot sue your employer by suing the agency here -- since wala ngang agency na nag-deploy sa iyo patungo sa Singapore.

You may probably sue your employer in Singapore, under their courts and their laws. Iyon na nga lang, I cannot tell you whether Singapore has similar laws that protect pregnant women from being terminated by the employers simply because they are pregnant.

Essentially, this the advantage of having a POEA-approved contract and having an agency in the Philippines -- para may maide-demanda ka dito sa Pilipinas kung sakaling tinanggal ka sa trabaho ng iyong employer (na principal noong agency sa Pilipinas).