Casual Employees: Incidental and 1 Year. The Philippine Labor Code is emphatic on the difference between a regular employee and a casual employee. As a direct opposite of the regular employee, a casual employee performs activities which are incidental only and for a period not exceeding 1 year.

1. Casual Employees
Incidental and 1 Year
29 October 2016

2. Casual Employee
IRR of the Labor Code: “There is casual employment where an employee
is engaged to perform a job, work or service which is merely incidental
to the business of the employer, and such job, work or service is for a
definite period made known to the employee at the time of
engagement…”
Citation: Sec. 5(b), Rule I, Book VI, Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Labor Code; cf. Article 294, Labor Code

3. 1 Year Limitation
“…. any employee who has rendered at least one year of service,
whether such service is continuous or not, shall be considered a regular
employee with respect to the activity in which he is employed and his
employment shall continue while such activity exists.”
Deemed regular: If the casual employee renders more than 1 year of
service, labor law converts his status and deems him a regular employee
– even if there is no action on the side of the employer.
Citation: Sec. 5(b), Rule I, Book VI, Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Labor Code; cf. Article 294, Labor Code

4. Entitled to Same Benefits as Regular
“Notwithstanding the foregoing distinctions [between regular and
casual employees], every employee shall be entitled to the rights and
privileges, and shall be subject to the duties and obligations, as may be
granted by law to regular employees during the period of their actual
employment.”
Citation: Sec. 5(b), Rule I, Book VI, Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Labor Code; cf. Article 294, Labor Code

5. Case Law
PLDT v. Arceo (2006)
• The casual employee (photocopier/sorter) filed a complaint after she was dismissed
by the employer (telecommunications).
HELD: The casual employee became a regular employee.
• “… a regular employee is (1) one who is either engaged to perform activities that are
necessary or desirable in the usual trade or business of the employer or (2) a casual
employee who has rendered at least one year of service, whether continuous or
broken, with respect to the activity in which he is employed.
• “Under the first criterion, [the employee] is qualified to be a regular employee. Her
work, consisting mainly of photocopying documents, sorting out telephone bills and
disconnection notices, was certainly ‘necessary or desirable’ to the business of PLDT.
But even if the contrary were true, the uncontested fact is that she rendered service
for more than one year as a casual employee. Hence, under the second criterion, she
is still eligible to become a regular employee.”
Citation: Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, Inc. v. Arceo, G.R. No. 149985, 05 May 2006

6. For more information:
Labor Law Compliance
Best Practices for Human Resource
www.laborlaw.ph
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