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UST Digest

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Pontesor et al., finding that they were regular employees of UST rather than project-based employees as UST claimed. Pontesor et al. had each worked for UST for over one year based on their cumulative periods of employment under various contractual agreements. As such, they fell under the second category of regular employees under the Labor Code. The Court also found that Pontesor et al. were not validly terminated upon completion of projects, as they were performing activities that were necessary to UST's business on a continuing basis. Therefore, their dismissal was deemed illegal and UST was ordered to reinstate them with back wages.

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636 views

UST Digest

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Pontesor et al., finding that they were regular employees of UST rather than project-based employees as UST claimed. Pontesor et al. had each worked for UST for over one year based on their cumulative periods of employment under various contractual agreements. As such, they fell under the second category of regular employees under the Labor Code. The Court also found that Pontesor et al. were not validly terminated upon completion of projects, as they were performing activities that were necessary to UST's business on a continuing basis. Therefore, their dismissal was deemed illegal and UST was ordered to reinstate them with back wages.

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G.R. No.

184262**, April 24, 2017


UST VS. SAMAHANG MANGGAGAWA NG UST, FERNANDO PONTESOR
FACTS:
A complaint for regularization and illegal dismissal filed by respondents Samahang Manggagawa ng UST
and Pontesor against petitioner before the NLRC.
Respondents argued that they were repeatedly rehired for various positions in the nature of maintenance
workers from 1990-1999 thus should be deemed regular employees. And that services of respondents are
necessary and desirable to the business of petitioner.
Petitioner posits that respondents were merely hired on a per-project basis, as evidenced by numerous
Contractual Employee Appointments (CEAs) signed by them. As such, the termination of Pontesor, et
al.'s employment with petitioner was validly made due to the completion of the specific projects for which
they were hired.
LA ruled in Pontesor, et al.'s favor and, accordingly, ordered petitioner to reinstate them to their former
jobs with full backwages and without loss of seniority rights. Pontesor, et al. should be deemed as
petitioner's regular employees, considering that: (a) they have rendered at least one (1) year of service to
petitioner as its employees; (b) the activities for which they were hired for are vital or inherently
indispensable to the maintenance of the buildings or classrooms where petitioner's classes were held; and
(c) their CEAs were contrived to preclude them from obtaining security of tenure. In this light and in the
absence of any valid cause for termination, the LA concluded that Pontesor, et al. were illegally dismissed
by petitioner.
Petitioner appealed to the NLRC. NLRC found that Pontesor, et al. cannot be considered regular
employees as they knowingly and voluntarily entered into fixed term contracts of employment with
petitioner. Classified Pontesor, et al. as mere fixed term casual employees. Respondents MR was denied.
Petition for certiorari was filed. CA reversed and set aside the NLRC ruling and, accordingly, reinstated
that of the LA. Petitioner’s MR was denied hence, this petition.
ISSUE:
Whether or not Pontesor, et al. are regular employees and, consequently, were illegally dismissed by
petitioner.
RULING:
The petition is without merit.
Article 295 of the Labor Code, as amended, distinguishes project employment from regular employment.
The law provides for two (2) types of regular employees, namely: (a) those who are engaged to perform
activities which are usually necessary or desirable in the usual business or trade of the employer (first
category); and (b) those who have rendered at least one year of service, whether continuous or broken,
with respect to the activity in which they are employed (second category).
Also, if the emplovee has been performing the iob for at least a year, even if the performance is not
continuous and merely intermittent, the law deems repeated and continuing need for its performance as
sufficient evidence of the necessitv if not indispensability of that activity to the business. Hence, the
employment is considered regular, but only with respect to such activity and while such activity exists.
(Abasolo v. NLRC)
It is clear that their respective cumulative periods of employment as per their respective CEAs each
exceed one (1) year. Thus, Pontesor, et al. fall under the second category of regular employees under
Article 295 of the Labor Code. Accordingly, they should be deemed as regular employees but only with
respect to the activities for which they were hired and for as long as such activities exist. The Court
clarifies that Pontesor, et al. were not project employees of petitioner, who were validly terminated upon
the completion of their respective projects/undertakings.
According to jurisprudence, the principal test for determining whether particular employees are properly
characterized as "project[¬-based] employees" as distinguished from "regular employees," is whether or
not the employees were assigned to carry out a "specific project or undertaking," the duration (and scope)
of which were specified at the time they were engaged for that project.
In view of the foregoing, Pontesor, et al. should, as discussed earlier, be considered regularized casual
employees who enjoy, inter alia, security of tenure. Accordingly, they cannot be terminated from
employment without any just and/or authorized cause, which unfortunately, petitioner was guilty of doing
in this case.

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