SC: Seasonal workers can be deemed regular employees

SC: Seasonal workers can be deemed regular employees

Can a seasonal worker be classified as a regular employee?

The Supreme Court, ruling on a 2009 labor case involving a sugar plantation worker who was dismissed from a hacienda in Negros Occidental, says that type of employee can be given regular employment status if he or she performs work or services that are “seasonal in nature” and is employed to perform for more than one season.

“The fact that an employee is free to make their services available to others does not negate regular employment status for as long as they are hired repeatedly for the same activities and not merely on and off for any single phase of agricultural work,” the high court said in a decision promulgated on Nov. 13, 2023, but was posted on its website only on Feb. 16.

‘Pakyaw’ scheme

It said that being compensated under a “pakyaw” scheme or task basis arrangement would not invalidate regular employment “so long as the employer has the right to exercise the power of control or supervision over the performance of an employee’s duties, regardless of whether the same is actually exercised.”

The Supreme Court ruling dismissed the petition for review on certiorari filed by Hacienda San Isidro/Silos Farms and Rey Silos Llamado challenging the Court of Appeals’ (CA) 2013 decision that declared Helen Villarue a regular employee of the sugar plantation and ordered the payment of her back wages and separation pay.

Villarue’s husband, Lucito, was also named respondent in the petition.

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Based on court records, the couple worked at Hacienda San Isidro in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, which is administered by Llamado, and which forms part of Silos Farms, owned by Fidel Silos.

In 2009, the Villarues filed separate complaints before the National Labor

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