Begino et al., vs. ABS-CBN Corp., GR No. 199166, April 20, 2015
Principle: the test to determine whether employment is regular or not is the reasonable connection between the activity performed by the employee in relation to the business or trade of the employer
Facts:
ABS-CBN is a television and radio broadcasting corporation engaged the services of the respondents as reporters sometime in 1996 and 2002 which they regularly renewed over the years, provided terms are ranging from three (3) months to one (1) year, petitioners were given Project Assignment Forms which detailed, among other matters, the duration of a particular project as well as the budget and the daily technical requirements thereof.
Specifically providing that nothing in the Talent contract shall be deemed or construed to establish an employer-employee relationship between the parties, the petitioners averred that they were under the direct control and supervision of ABS-CBN. They filed a complaint before the NLRC claiming that they were regular employees and are subject to underpayment of overtime pay, holiday pay, 13th month pay, service incentive leave pay, damages and attorney's fees, petitioners alleged that they performed functions necessary and desirable in ABS-CBN's business.
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Talent Contracts and/or Project Assignment Forms, petitioners were hired as talents, to act as reporters and/or cameramen for TV Patrol Bicol for designated periods and rates. Fully aware that they were not considered or to consider themselves as employees of a particular production or film outfit, petitioners were supposedly engaged on the basis of the skills, knowledge or expertise they already possessed and, for said reason, required no further training from ABS-CBN. Although petitioners were inevitably subjected to some degree of control, the same was allegedly limited to the imposition of general guidelines on conduct and performance, simply for the purpose of upholding the standards of the company and the strictures of the industry. Never subjected to any control or restrictions over the means and methods by which they performed or discharged the tasks for which their services were engaged, petitioners were, at most, briefed whenever necessary regarding the general requirements of the project to be executed.
Contention of ABS-CBN:
Talent Contracts and/or Project Assignment Forms, petitioners were hired as talents, to act as reporters and/or cameramen for TV Patrol Bicol for designated periods and rates. Fully aware that they were not considered or to consider themselves as employees of a particular production or film outfit, petitioners were supposedly engaged on the basis of the skills, knowledge or expertise they already possessed and, for said reason, required no further training from ABS-CBN. Although petitioners were inevitably subjected to some degree of control, the same was allegedly limited to the imposition of general guidelines on conduct and performance, simply for the purpose of upholding the standards of the company and the strictures of the industry. Never subjected to any control or restrictions over the means and methods by which they performed or discharged the tasks for which their services were engaged, petitioners were, at most, briefed whenever necessary regarding the general requirements of the project to be executed.
Issue: Whether they are to be considered as regular employees or not
Ruling: To determine the existence of an employee-employer relationship, case law has consistently applied the four-fold test, to wit: (a) the selection and engagement of the employee; (b) the payment of wages; (c) the power of dismissal; and (d) the employer's power to control the employee on the means and methods by which the work is accomplished. The "control test" is generally regarded as the most crucial and determinative indicator of the presence or absence of an employer-employee relationship. Under this test, an employer-employee relationship is said to exist where the person for whom the services are performed reserves the right to control not only the end result but also the manner and means utilized to achieve the same.
Time and again, it has been ruled that the test to determine whether employment is regular or not is the reasonable connection between the activity performed by the employee in relation to the business or trade of the employer. As cameramen/editors and reporters, petitioners were undoubtedly performing functions necessary and essential to ABS-CBN's business of broadcasting television and radio content. It matters little that petitioners' services were engaged for specified periods for TV Patrol Bicol and that they were paid according to the budget allocated therefor. Aside from the fact that said program is a regular weekday fare of the ABS-CBN's Regional Network Group in Naga City, the record shows that, from their initial engagement in the aforesaid capacities, petitioners were continuously re-hired by respondents over the years.
If the employee has been performing the job for at least one year, even if the performance is not continuous or merely intermittent, the law deems the repeated or continuing performance as sufficient evidence of the necessity, if not indispensability of that activity in the business.
The nature of the employment depends, after all, on the nature of the activities to be performed by the employee, considering the nature of the employer's business, the duration and scope to be done, and, in some cases, even the length of time of the performance and its continued existence. In finding that petitioners were regular employees, the NLRC further ruled that the exclusivity clause and prohibitions in their Talent Contracts and/or Project Assignment Forms were likewise indicative of respondents' control over them. The employees perform functions necessary and essential to the business of ABS-CBN which repeatedly employed them for a long-running news program of its Regional Network Group in Naga City. In the course of said employment, petitioners were provided the equipments they needed, were required to comply with the Company's policies which entailed prior approval and evaluation of their performance.