Former employer could not give certificate of employment

Question

I've got a new job coming right up. Only thing is, my former employer could not give me my COE.

I've emailed them, texted them, Skyped them that I need it soon. I've also been very clear, that I can wait for my back pay. I told them I just need my COE first.

However, same as last time with my salary, they are not responding to my messages. My calls could not reach their numbers.

Having a COE isn't really required to apply for a company if you just resigned from the last one.

All of us former employees have this problem with our sad excuse of a boss. Not just me.

I don't understand. How could an employer not be able to print and sign some documents? If they're planning to tell everyone I've never been employed by them they're gonna have a hard time explaining that because I have internal knowledge of their projects, my colleagues have given me their references, and my prospective employers believe us.

The alternative is I don't declare my experience with my former employer. I can't remove my experience with them from my resume, however, because that will leave a five month gap in my resume.

How do I approach the situation please?

Much appreciated.

Answer 1

Document your employment through other means.

You say yourself that you don't need a COE. This legal forum seems to confirm that they have no legal obligation to provide one. That in turn should mean that an employer shouldn't require you to provide one or should allow you other ways to prove your employment if they're questioning your resume.

That same site suggests providing Social Security System payment confirmations as proof that you were employed. A commenter there claims that a company cannot refuse to prove that they've paid your SSS contributions. But take all that with a grain of salt.

If even that doesn't work and you don't want to start legal proceedings, you can use monthly or yearly pay stubs to prove that you were employed at a company.

But really, you shouldn't need to go to such lengths. You can talk about what you did at the employer and hiring managers don't typically require proof for every position you list on your resume as they normally assume good faith. I have no experience with hiring in the Phillipines but I doubt they do things that differently there.

Answer 2

If they're planning to tell everyone I've never been employed by them they're gonna have a hard time explaining that because I have internal knowledge of their projects, my colleagues have given me their references, and my prospective employers believe us.

No, they won't have a hard time you will. Releasing knowledge of internal projects of any company you worked with/for, is bound to bite you in the ass.

Why would any company hire you if you release sensitive information on the fly. Pick your fights, this one is not the one you want to pick since you clearly don't "need" the COE.