Sent to the Philippines by an Agency and Both Sides Deny Responsibility: Who You Can Hold Liable

The short answer: you can pursue both, and you should

When two companies blame each other, the strongest move is not to pick one but to name both in the same written claim. Philippine rules on service contracting start from a simple structure. The contractor is the nominal employer: it pays you, enrols you in social insurance and handles discipline. The client pays a service fee, yet it is generally jointly liable for unpaid wages and statutory benefits owed to the workers deployed to it. A client usually cannot walk away by saying it already paid the agency.

There is a second layer. If the contractor has no real capital or equipment, does not actually supervise you, and you perform work that is central to the client's business, the arrangement risks being classified as labor-only contracting. The consequence is that the client is treated as your true employer. You do not have to reach that conclusion yourself. You only need to preserve the facts: who sets your schedule, who approves leave, who gives daily instructions, who pays you, and whose ID badge and email account you carry.

Three rules for dealing with the blame game:

• Do not argue verbally about who the employer is. Put the question in a written notice and let each company answer in writing.
• Do not stop pressing one company just because it tells you to go to the other. Silence looks like acceptance.
• Do not sign anything labelled voluntary resignation, waiver or full settlement on the spot, whichever company hands it to you.

Mutual finger-pointing is often a way of buying time. The earlier both companies are pinned down in writing, the better your starting position in conciliation or arbitration, and the harder it becomes for either one to rewrite the story later.

Work out which of three deployment structures you are in

"Sent by an agency" can describe at least three different arrangements, and chasing the wrong party is the most common detour. Check which one fits.

1. Deployed by a labor company in your home country. You signed with an overseas-labor or employer entity at home and were then sent to a project or factory in the Philippines. The home entity owes you contractual duties; the Philippine site is responsible for working conditions and safety. Disputes can touch both countries, and where to bring a claim depends on the contract and the evidence. See a home-country contract and a dispute in the Philippines.
2. Deployed by a Philippine manpower contractor. You signed with a local contractor and work at its client's premises. This is the classic joint-liability scenario, and the local labor department and labor arbiters can take the case directly.
3. Intra-group secondment. A parent company seconded you to its Philippine subsidiary or affiliate, sometimes with pay split between the two. Who the employer is depends on the contract, the payroll and day-to-day control, and on which entity sponsored your work permit and visa.

One piece of hard evidence is often overlooked: the name of the petitioning company on your work permit and work visa. A foreign national can only work lawfully in the Philippines when a local entity applies as employer, and that entity will struggle to claim afterwards that it has never heard of you. The logic is explained in which company petitions for a 9G. If you discover that the company on your documents and the place where you actually work are unrelated, treat that as a status problem in its own right and raise it promptly, rather than discovering it during an inspection or in the middle of a dispute.

Six things to do in the first 24 hours

On day one, do only two kinds of things: preserve evidence and send written notice. Everything else can wait. In order:

1. Health first. If you are injured or ill, get treated and keep the diagnosis, receipts and admission records. Do not delay care because the two companies have not agreed who pays.
2. Move the evidence into your own hands. Contract, deployment notice, ID badge, rosters, attendance, payslips, transfer records, dormitory arrangements and work-group chats: photograph everything and back it up to a private email or cloud folder. Take only what you were already entitled to see. Do not copy client data or internal system files.
3. Write down who actually manages you. A one-page timeline: who interviewed you, who signed, who schedules you, who approves leave, who pays, and who told you to stop work or sent you back. Attach a screenshot to each line.
4. Notify both companies in writing on the same day. Send it by email and by messaging app. State what happened, what you are claiming, and a specific date by which you expect a written reply. Keep the tone neutral; no insults, no threats.
5. Keep your passport and documents with you. If either company is holding them "for safekeeping", ask for them back now. If they refuse, see what to do when an employer holds your passport.
6. Do not sign, do not walk out, do not go silent. Refuse to sign any settlement or resignation on the spot. Do not simply stop showing up, because that can be recast as abandonment. Stay reachable, and confirm every verbal conversation afterwards in writing.

After these six steps you hold three things: facts, proof, and each company's written position. Every later option, whether a negotiated settlement or a formal complaint, is built on those three.

Who to approach for each kind of problem

The first responsible party differs by issue, but the second is almost always the other company, so copy both every time.

• Unpaid wages, overtime or statutory benefits. Start with the company that signed you and runs your payroll. In the same message, tell the client in writing that you intend to rely on its shared liability. The full recovery route is set out in recovering unpaid wages in the Philippines.
• Workplace injury or illness. Site safety is the client's responsibility, while social-insurance and work-injury filings are normally handled by whichever company registered you as its employee. Report the incident to both in writing and ask for proof of enrolment and of the filing.
• Being "returned" by the client. A client deciding it no longer wants you does not end the employment relationship by itself. The contracting company should redeploy you or act according to law, not leave you waiting indefinitely without pay. If a resignation letter is put in front of you next, read forced resignation and constructive dismissal first.
• Deductions for lodging, meals, deposits or document fees. Check what the contract and deployment notice say. Where no basis is written down, ask for an itemised written explanation of each deduction and how it was calculated.
• Problems with your work permit or visa. Go straight to the petitioning company named on the documents, and verify for yourself whether your status is still valid. This one cannot wait.

A practical tip: one issue, one letter. Send one message about wages, another about the injury, another about status, each with a clear request and a reply date. A single long letter listing every grievance invites the recipient to answer the weakest point and ignore the rest.

When neither company responds: four routes outward, and three things not to do

Once your written deadline passes without a real answer, hand the dispute to a body with authority instead of continuing to argue in chat groups. The usual routes:

1. Conciliation at the labor department. Most labor disputes in the Philippines begin with a mandatory conciliation step, and you can name both the contracting company and the client as respondents. Where and how to file is covered in filing a complaint with the Philippine labor department.
2. Labor arbitration. If conciliation fails, the case moves to arbitration. Foreign workers have standing; details are in foreigners before the NLRC.
3. Home-country channels. If a labor company at home deployed you, you can also raise the matter with the authority supervising that company. Its contractual duties do not disappear because you are abroad.
4. Consular assistance. Where your movement is restricted, documents are withheld, you cannot leave the country, or a whole group has gone unpaid, your embassy or consulate can be approached. Consular staff can coordinate and inform. They cannot litigate for you or order a company to pay.

Three things not to do:

• No self-help. Stopping work as a group, blocking gates or holding company equipment can turn you from the wronged party into the one facing liability.
• Do not drop your claim because someone threatens to report you to immigration. How to respond is covered in when an employer threatens an immigration report.
• Do not pay a middleman who claims to know someone. Decisions belong to the labor bodies, and nobody outside them can promise an outcome on their behalf.

Keep copies of everything you file and every notice you receive. Missing a scheduled conference can hurt your case more than a weak argument, so treat each date as fixed.

Keep your status alive during the dispute, and where Yixing fits

For a foreign worker, the biggest hidden risk is not losing the case but losing lawful status while it is pending. Your work permit and work visa sit under the petitioning company. If that company moves to cancel them, the basis for your stay changes. So when you send your first written claim, check three things yourself: whether the documents are valid today, when they expire, and whether a cancellation has already been filed.

If the job cannot be saved, there are usually three paths: transfer to a new lawful employer, downgrade to visitor status and plan from there, or leave in an orderly way. The conditions for each are set out in options for staying lawfully after losing a job and changing employers on a 9G. Which one suits you depends on how much validity remains and whether a new employer is ready, not on which sounds easiest.

Yixing can help with the status side: confirming the current state of your work visa and permit, explaining the documents and sequence for a transfer, a downgrade or exit clearance, and filing once you have chosen a direction. That falls under our visa and HR services. Yixing holds SEC registration CS202009551, Bureau of Immigration accreditation (BI Accreditation No. CA-202624381-1, valid to 2027-06-30) and DOLE accreditation. We do not act in labor arbitration, we do not judge who is right, and we do not promise any approval or ruling. The labor dispute itself belongs with a licensed lawyer. If cost is a concern, ask the lawyer or the public legal-aid office whether you qualify for assistance before you decide the claim is not worth pursuing.

Every case turns on its own facts: consult a licensed lawyer. This article is not legal advice. Yixing is a private consultancy with no affiliation to any government office, and it does not represent parties in labor arbitration or litigation.