Your Foreign Employee Has Been Convicted: Reporting, Employment and Visa Steps for the Employer

The short answer: verify, separate the tracks, follow procedure, do not comment on the case

A conviction is an HR and compliance event for the company, not an emotional one. The company is not there to judge whether the employee is guilty or whether the sentence is fair. Its job, given that a court has ruled, is to handle what it owes as an employer and as a visa sponsor, one step at a time.

Those obligations fall into three tracks. The immigration track: what happens to the visa the company sponsors, how the employee status may change, and what the company must cooperate with or file. The labor department track: the employee work permit. The employment track: whether the employee can keep working, what procedure applies if employment ends, and how final pay is settled.

The tracks affect each other, but they cannot be collapsed into one quick decision. Even if the company decides to end employment, it must follow the procedure required by labor law. Even if the visa will be affected, how and when it is handled depends on what the Bureau of Immigration requires.

Inside and outside the company, do not comment on the case. Avoid discussing it in staff group chats or on social media, which can create defamation or privacy problems.

Appoint one manager to coordinate all three tracks so that decisions are consistent and nobody acts alone. Individual cases should be reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Before any decision is announced, check that the employment, immigration and payroll actions planned for the coming weeks are consistent with each other, because contradictions between them are what create later disputes.

Step one: verify the judgment and the employee situation

Obtain the official text of the judgment or reliable information about it, and establish several facts. What offence was the conviction for? What is the penalty: a fine, probation, or a custodial sentence? Is the judgment final, or will the employee appeal? Where is the employee now: in custody, released on bail, or having already served a sentence?

Each answer changes what comes next. An employee serving a sentence cannot report for work, which affects the employment track. If an appeal is pending and the judgment is not final, the company must be more careful on the labor side. Whether an employee on bail may travel or work is covered in travel and work while on bail.

Information usually comes from the employee, their lawyer or their family, or from the company lawyer through lawful channels. Do not use informal contacts to dig into the case or obtain records the company has no right to see.

Write the verified facts on one page, noting the source and date of each item. That page is the basis for every later decision and the first thing your lawyer will ask for.

Update the page whenever something changes, such as an appeal being filed or a release from custody, so the company never acts on old information.

If the information you receive conflicts, for example the family says one thing and the court record says another, rely on the official record and note the discrepancy. Do not act on rumours circulating among staff. A decision based on an unverified story is hard to defend later, both to the labor authorities and to the employee lawyer, and it can damage trust within the team.

The immigration track: what a sponsor must cooperate with and what it may need to file

Under immigration law, a conviction may lead to consequences such as deportation or listing as an undesirable alien. Those outcomes are decided by the Bureau of Immigration according to law. The company cannot decide them and cannot stop them. As sponsor, the company should focus on its own duties and on what it must cooperate with.

Typical questions include whether the company must inform the Bureau of the situation, whether it should withdraw sponsorship or apply to cancel the visa, and which documents it must provide if deportation proceedings begin. The answers depend on the visa type, the judgment and the current position of the Bureau, so they cannot be given in general terms. Have a lawyer and a licensed agency assess the specific case, and follow the Bureau written requirements.

The general principles and timing for cancelling a visa after separation are in the employer duty to cancel a 9G. If the employee is eventually deported, the company has a further list of follow-up tasks, set out in what a company handles after an employee is deported.

Avoid two extremes on this track. One is rushing to withdraw sponsorship to distance the company before the procedure is understood, which can leave the employee status in a more complicated position. The other is withholding or delaying information the Bureau is entitled to in order to protect the employee. Honest, cooperative and procedural is the safest approach.

Keep copies of everything you submit to or receive from the Bureau, with dates, and note who in the company handled each step. Immigration matters connected to a criminal case can take time, and the company may be asked for documents months later, long after the people involved have moved on to other roles or left the company.

The employment track: can you keep them, and how to end employment lawfully

Whether the company can keep the employee depends on several factors: how the offence relates to the job, for example a finance employee convicted of a property offence; whether the employee can physically report, for example if serving a sentence; and whether the visa and work permit can be maintained after the judgment. If the employee can no longer work lawfully, continuing to employ them exposes the company itself.

If the company decides to end employment, follow the procedure labor law requires: a lawful ground, written notice to the employee, a chance to respond, and a written decision. Even if the employee is in custody, try to deliver notices and receive their response through their lawyer or family, and keep records. The general shape of that process is described in responding to a notice to explain.

Settle final pay and leave conversions according to the rules. Do not hold them back because the employee faces a criminal case. Agree in writing with the employee, or a person they authorise, how the money will be delivered.

If the judgment is not yet final and an appeal is pending, take extra care with the timing and grounds for termination. Your lawyer can assess whether another arrangement, such as a lawful suspension of work, is more appropriate for now.

Throughout the process, keep the employee personal file confidential and limit access to the people who need it. Note each step taken, the date, and the reason, so the company can show a fair and consistent process if the termination is later questioned before the labor authorities. Where the employee has been a long-serving and valued member of staff, consider whether any reasonable assistance can be offered within the rules, such as releasing references limited to dates of employment.

What to say inside and outside the company: protect privacy and steady the team

News of a conviction usually spreads inside the company. Management should prepare a short, consistent message: the company is aware of the matter, is handling it according to law, will not comment on the details, and asks staff not to spread unverified information. Do not describe the case at an all-hands meeting or name the offence in an email.

If clients or partners ask, say only that the company is handling the matter lawfully, and share no personal information. Criminal case information about an individual is sensitive personal data, and careless disclosure can lead to a privacy complaint.

Pay attention to colleagues who were close to the employee or affected by the case, for example if one of them was a victim, and adjust their work arrangements if needed.

When the employee leaves, recover and hand over their work, system access, accounts, keys and company property item by item, with a signed handover list. Adjust system permissions promptly once the employment decision is made.

Keep the internal message short and repeat it consistently. Silence from management tends to be filled with rumour, while a calm, factual line reduces speculation.

If journalists or outsiders contact the company, direct them to one designated spokesperson and give the same short statement. Do not confirm or deny details about the employee. Inside the company, remind managers that sharing screenshots of court documents or news articles in team chats is not appropriate, even if the information is already public. Treat the employee with dignity in every communication, regardless of the outcome of the case, because how the company behaves now is remembered by the rest of the team.

A close-out checklist, and how Yixing can help

When the matter is over, check a close-out list. Has the visa and work permit status been handled as the Bureau of Immigration and the labor department require? Has employment been ended or otherwise arranged through proper procedure, with complete documents? Has final pay been settled? Have company property and accounts been recovered? If dependents hold visas linked to the employee, have those been handled too?

Then review your hiring and control practices: background checks at hiring, separation of duties for sensitive roles, and clear rules on unlawful conduct in the employee code. This is not about targeting anyone; it gives the company a clear path the next time something similar happens.

Yixing handles the visa and HR side: assessing how and when the employee visa and work permit should be handled after a judgment, preparing the documents a sponsor must provide, and cancellation and follow-up after separation or deportation. The criminal case and the legal procedure for ending employment must be handled by a licensed lawyer. Reach us through our visa and HR services.

Yixing is SEC-registered (CS202009551) and holds Bureau of Immigration Accreditation No. CA-202624381-1 (valid until 30 June 2027) and DOLE accreditation. Individual cases should be reviewed by a licensed lawyer; this article is not legal advice.

Keep the close-out file for a reasonable period after the matter ends. Questions sometimes come back later, for example when the employee seeks to return to the Philippines, when the company sponsors a new foreign hire, or when an authority reviews the company sponsorship history. A complete file answers those questions quickly and avoids delays for future applications.