The type of employment shall not be dictated by the employment contract
but rather by the definition of law. It shall be
determined by the nature of the activities to be performed, and in some cases,
the duration of the engagement and the continued existence of such activities.
Moreover, any terms and conditions of the employment contract that are
constructed to circumvent employees’ security of tenure shall be disregarded as
contrary to public policy.
PROBATIONARY EMPLOYMENT
According
to the Labor Code of the Philippines, an employee shall not be placed on
probation for more than 6 months.
The standards to qualify as a regular employee should made known to the
employee at the time of engagement. In normal circumstances, an employee who is
allowed to work after the probation period shall
be considered a regular employee. This probation period may be mutually agreed
to be less than 6 months.
Furthermore,
if the duration of the probationary contract or the standards to qualify as a
regular employee is not make known to the employee at the time of engagement,
the employee shall be deemed as a
regular employee from the start of the employment.
However,
the probationary period may be extended out of goodwill and
upon mutual understanding and
agreement to grant a second chance to the employee to
qualify for regular employment.
REGULAR EMPLOYMENT
A regular employment is a permanent
employment whereby the employee is granted the security of tenure and
may not be terminated without a just or authorized cause. In the event that the
employee is illegally terminated, the employee may be entitled to the both
reliefs of reinstatement and back pay.
PROJECT EMPLOYMENT
Project
employment is a type of employment when employees are employed for a specific
project. Therefore, the employee may be terminated at a predetermined time
or upon the completion of the project.
In
order to determine that it is a project based employment, the employer must
prove that the employee was assigned to carry out a specific project or undertaking. Besides that, the duration of the employment and
the scope of responsibilities were
specified to the employee at the time of engagement. Project based employment shall not be a means to circumvent the
employee’s right to security of tenure. Therefore, when a project employee
is continuously rehired to perform
activities necessary to the business, the employee shall be
deemed as a regular employee.
Project employees also enjoy statutory benefits such as
service incentive leave, holiday pay, and 13th month pay. Besides, the project
employees are also entitled to overtime pay and night shift differential,
whenever applicable. The nature of employment is not a requirement to qualify
for these benefits or additional compensation.
Project employees’ employment is coterminous with each
project or phase of the project to which they are assigned. This means that
project employees may be validly
dismissed upon the completion of the project or phase of the project which
they are assigned. When the project based employment is terminated due to
the completion of the project or phase thereof, the employer is not required to provide prior notice.
A project employee shall not be terminated without a just or authorized cause
before the expiration of the term of his or her project employment.
SEASONAL EMPLOYMENT
Seasonal
employment is a type of employment when an employee performs work that is seasonal or periodic in nature. However, the
employment itself is not automatically considered seasonal so as to prevent the
employee from acquiring regular status.
To
categorize the employment as seasonal employment, the employer must show that
the employee must be performing work or services that are seasonal in nature; and the employment is for the duration of the season.
FIXED TERM EMPLOYMENT
Fixed-term
employment is whereby the service of the employee is engaged only for a definite period of time and
the contract shall be deemed terminated upon the end of such period irrespective of the existence of just cause
and regardless of the activity the employee is called upon to perform.
Fixed-term
employment contracts are only upheld valid and not as a mean to circumvent the
employee’s security of tenure when both parties entered into the
agreement knowingly and voluntarily without
external influence; or both parties were on more or less equal terms.
Notes: Other types of employment contracts are
apprenticeship and learnership agreement where apprenticeable occupation is determined
by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA, a agency of
DOLE). The company should secure approval from DOLE first. Only employers in the highly technical industries may
employ apprentices and only in apprenticeable occupations approved by the
Secretary of Labor and Employment. With this agreement, employer release even
less than minimum wage or contract period could be longer than 6 months.
Notes: According to the Labor code, OJT (On the
Job Training) is a kind of apprentice without compensation. However, even non-accredited
companies sometimes accept OJTs.
Notes: Learnership agreement would be availed by
non-apprenticeable business organization but after maximum three (3) month’s
contract, they will become a regular employee.
Notes: All
those who work less than 8 hours a day are considered as part-time workers.
If
they worked more than 6 months, they are considered as part-time regular
employees. All rules / standards are also applied to part-time workers.