FACTS:

Enrique Sagun (petitioner) applied for the position of Payments and Cash Processing Lead at ANZ Global Services and Operations (Manila), Inc. (ANZ), and accepted the offer to be a Customer Service Officer, Payments and Cash Resolution. His employment agreement with ANZ required a satisfactory result in pre-employment screening and stated that ANZ can end his employment immediately if any background checks are not satisfactory. After tendering his resignation at his previous employer, petitioner was instructed to report to ANZ on July 11, 2011 but was given a letter retracting the job offer due to material inconsistencies found during a background check. Petitioner filed a complaint for illegal dismissal, claiming that his employment contract had been perfected. Respondents asserted that there was no employer-employee relationship as the offer was conditional and petitioner made material misrepresentations in his application. The Labor Arbiter (LA) dismissed the complaint, ruling that there was no perfected employment contract. The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) affirmed the LA's findings and held that no employer-employee relationship existed. The Court of Appeals (CA) also upheld the dismissal, stating that the contract was perfected but the employment did not commence due to petitioner's misrepresentations and failure to comply with the background check. Petitioner filed a motion for reconsideration which was denied, leading to this petition. The issue is whether the CA erred in finding that no employer-employee relationship existed.

ISSUES:

1. Whether or not an employer-employee relationship existed between petitioner and respondent.

RULING:

1. The Court affirms the ruling of the CA and NLRC that no employer-employee relationship existed between petitioner and respondent. The CA correctly held that while the employment contract was perfected, the employment did not commence due to the misrepresentations made by petitioner in his application. Moreover, the employment offer was conditioned on the satisfactory completion of petitioner's background check, which he failed to comply with. Therefore, the withdrawal of the offer was justified and no employer-employee relationship was created.

PRINCIPLES:

• Misrepresentation in the job application can be a valid ground for the withdrawal of the employment offer.

• The commencement of the employer-employee relationship is different from the perfection of the employment contract.

• A conditional offer of employment is subject to the satisfactory completion of background checks. Failure to comply with the conditions can justify the withdrawal of the offer.