SC: Schools cannot suspend unwed teachers for being pregnant

The Supreme Court (SC) has reiterated that premarital sexual relations resulting in pregnancy are not immoral and not a valid ground for suspension for teachers.

In an 18-page decision made public on Dec. 16, the high court's First Division ruled that the decision of Bohol Wisdom School (BWS), a Christian school, to suspend grade school teacher Miraflor Mabao for being pregnant outside marriage was illegal. 

Mabao was a grade school teacher at BWS in 2016. When she was two months pregnant, she informed the administrative head of the school, who later “verbally suspended” her until she married her boyfriend, the father of the child she was carrying. 

She later received written notice of her indefinite suspension without pay due to immorality for being pregnant outside of marriage. 

Mabao filed a complaint for illegal suspension. The Labor Arbiter ruled that she was constructively dismissed, but the National Labor Relations Commission reversed this decision. 

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeals (CA) ruled that there was no constructive dismissal, but it found Mabao’s suspension illegal. 

The SC affirmed CA’s decision, saying sexual relations between two unmarried yet consenting adults are not immoral. 

“No law proscribes such, and said conduct does not contravene any fundamental state policy enshrined in the Constitution,” the decision read.  

The High Court also clarified that per the law, the standard of morality applicable to all is public and secular, not religious. 

“The SC held that if the government were to otherwise base public policies and morals on religious beliefs, this would require everyone to conform to a religious program or agenda,” it read.