Bar Questions (set 10 Nos.

1-24)
1. Tomas and Cruz have been employed for the last 22 years in various capacities on board the ships of
BARKO shipping Company. Their employment was made through a local manning company. They have
signed several ten (10) month employment contracts with BARKO Shipping. The NLRC ruled that they
were contractual employees and that their employment was terminated each time their contract expired.
Is the ruling of the NLRC correct? Explain fully.

Answer:
Yes. Article 280. Seafarers are contractual employees. They cannot be considered as regular
employees. Their employment is governed by the contract they sign every time they are rehired and their
employment is terminated when the contract expires.
They fall under the exception of ART 280 whose employment has been fixed for a specific project
or undertaking the completion or termination of which has been determined at the time of engagement of
the employee or where the work or services to be performed is seasonal in nature and employment is for
the duration of the season.

2. How is the project worker different from a casual or contractual worker? Briefly explain your answers.

Answer:
A contractual worker is a generic term used to designate any worker covered by a written contract
to perform a specific undertaking for a fixed period.
A project worker is used to designate worker hired to perform specific undertaking for a fixed
period co-terminus with the project determined at the time of the engagement of the employee.
Casual worker refers to workers of job that is not desirable or necessary to the business or trade
of the employer and has not rendered service at least 1 year.

3. The services of an employee were terminated upon the completion of the probationary period of
employment for failure to qualify, for the position. The employee filed a complaint for illegal dismissal on
the ground that the employer failed to inform him in writing the reasonable standards for regular
employment. Will the complaint for illegal dismissal prosper?

Answer:
Yes. The employer must communicate the standards required of the employee by which he will
qualify as regular employee at the beginning of his employment. The reasonable standards must be
known to the employee by the employer at the time of the engagement.

4. What limitations, if any, do the law and jurisprudence impose on an employer’s right to terminate the
services of a probationary employee?

Answer:
The labor code provides that the services which have been engaged in probationary status may be
terminated for just and authorized causes or if an employee fails to qualify as a regular employee based
on the reasonable standards made known by the employer to the employee at the time of his
engagement.
If the probationary employee is terminated through just cause he must be given due process.
During the probationary period, pwede ka ma dismiss for authorized and just causes but the procedural
due process must be complied with. However if the dismissal is based on failure to meet the reasonable
standards, it is enough to inform the employee that he failed to meet the standards. Due process is not
necessary.

5. Distinguish the project employees from regular employees.

Answer:
Regular employee is one who performs activities necessary or desirable to the usual business or
trade of the employer or those who continues to render service for more than 1 year or those who were
not terminated after the probationary period. Project employees are those whose employment has been
fixed on a specific project or undertaking, the completion and termination of which has been determined
at the time of the engagement of the employee of that project employment.
6. Mariano Martillo was a mason employed by the ABC Construction Company. Every time that ABC had a
project, it would enter into an employment contract with Martillo for a fixed period that coincided with
the need for his services, usually for a duration of three to six months.
Since the last project involved the construction of a 40-storey building, Martillo was contracted for
14 months. During this period, ABC granted wage increases to its regular employees, composed mostly of
engineers and rank and file construction workers as a result of the just concluded CBA negotiations,
feeling aggrieved and discriminated against, Martillo and other similarly-situated project workers
demanded that increases be extended to them, inasmuch as they should now be considered regular
employees and members of the bargaining unit. If you were ABC’s counsel, how would you respond to
this demand?

Answer:
The demand has no legal basis because the employment of the petitioner is that of a project
employment. The fact that the work has gone beyond 1 year does not dissolve the status of the
petitioners as project employees. The years of service will not matter. Even if it exceeds 1 year it will not
affect the project employment status of the worker as long as the project is predetermined. He will
become a regular employee only if the duration of the project is not predetermined and there is rehiring.

7. Kitchie Tempo was one of approximately 500 production operators at HITEC Semiconductors, Inc. and
export-oriented enterprise whose business depended on orders for computer chips from overseas. She
was hired as a contractual employee four years ago. Her contracts would be for a duration of five (5)
months at a time, usually after a one-month interval. Her re-hiring was contingent on her performance
for the immediately preceding contract.
Six months after the expiration of her last contract, Kitchie went to HITEC’s personnel department
to inquire why she was not yet being recalled for another temporary contract. She was told that her
performance during her last stint was “below average.”
Since there was no union to represent her, Kitchie seeks your advice as a labor lawyer about her
chances of getting her job back. What will your advice be?

Answer:
File a case of illegal dismissal and seek for reinstatement. Their repeated rehiring is sufficient
evidence of necessity or desirability to the usual trade or business of the employer. He shall be
considered as regular employee because there was a repeated rehiring.

8. Aldrich Zamora, a welder, was hired on February 1972 by Asian Contractors Corporation (ACC) for a
project. He was made to sign a contract stipulating that his services were being hired for the completion
of the project, but not later than December 30, 1972, whichever comes first.
After December 1972, Zamora, being a man of many talents, was hired for different projects of
ACC in various capacities, such as carpenter, electrician, and plumber. In all of these engagements,
Zamora signed a contract similar to his first contract except for the estimated completion dates of the
project for which he was hired.
What is Zamora’s status with ACC? Is he a contract worker, a project employee, a temporary or a
regular employee? State your reason.

Answer:
He is considered as regular employee. There was a successive and repeated rehiring and renewal
of his contract.
9. ILECO is an electric cooperative which accepted fresh graduates from a vocational school as lineman
trainees for six (6) months after which they were hired as probationary employees for another ten (10)
months. Thereafter, they were made regular employees. These employees then sought entitlement to
salary increases under the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which were given at the time
when they were not yet regular employees, hence, not yet regular members when the CBA took effect and
therefore not entitled to wage adjustment thereunder. Resolve the issue. Discuss fully.

Answer:
They are regular employees from the start of their employment. They cannot qualify as apprentice
because this requires a prior approve apprenticeship program. They also cannot qualify as probationary
employee because they were not informed of the standards to be met. They are considered as regular
employee on the first day of employment.

10. A Construction Group hired Engineer “A” as a Project Engineer in 1987. He was assigned to five (5)
successive separate projects. All five contracts of employment he signed specified the name of the project,
its duration, and the temporary-project nature of the engagement of his services. Upon completion of the
fifth project in August 1998, his services were terminated. He worked for a total of ten (10) years (1987-
1998) in the five separate projects. Six months after his separation, the Group won a bid for a large
construction project. The Group did not engage the services of Engineer “A” as a Project Engineer for this
new project, instead, it engaged the services of Engineer “B”.
Engineer “A” claims that by virtue of the nature of his functions, i.e., Engineer in a Construction
Group, and his long years of service he had rendered to the Group, he is a regular and not a project
engineer at the time he was first hired. Furthermore, the hiring of Engineer “B” showed that there is a
continuing need for his services. Is the claim of Engineer “A” correct?

Answer:
No. Engineer A is considered a project engineer because in his contract the project is specified.
However he is considered a regular employee because of repeated hiring and failure to rehire him
amounts to illegal dismissal. When there is repeated rehiring, the project employee is considered regular
employee to avoid circumventing the concept of regular employment.

11. Design Consultants, Inc. was engaged by the PNCC to supervise the construction of the South
Expressway Extension. Design Consultants, Inc. hired Omar as a driver for two (2) years. After his two-
year contract expired, he was extended another contract for nine (9) months. These contracts were
entered into during the various stages and before the completion of the extension project. Omar claims
that because of these repeated contracts, he is now a regular employee of Design Consultants Inc. is he
correct? Explain briefly.

Answer:
Yes, he is already a regular employee. Take note that the project is not predetermined.
The principal test in determining a project employee as distinguish from a regular employee is
whether or not the project employees was assigned to carry out specific project or undertaking the
duration of which were specified at the time the employees was engaged for the project.
There is no showing that Omar was informed of the scope and duration of the project or
undertaking at the time of his engagement.

12. A carpenter is employed by a private University in Manila. Is the carpenter a regular or casual
employee? Discuss.

Answer:
He is a casual employee if he did not rendered service for at least 1 year otherwise he is
considered regular even if carpenter performs an activity not necessary or desirable to the usual business
or trade of the employer.

13. Savoy Department Store (SDS) adopted a policy of hiring salesladies on five-month cycles. At the end
of a saleslady’s five-month term, another person is hired as replacement. Salesladies attend to store
customers, were SDS uniforms, report at specified hours and are subject to SDS workplace rules and
regulations. Those who refuse the 5-month employment contract are not hired. The day after expiration
of her 5-month engagement, Lina wore her SDS white and blue uniform and reported for work but was
denied entry into the store premises. Agitated, she went on a hunger strike and stationed herself in front
of one of the gates of SDS. Soon thereafter, other employees whose 5-month term had also elapsed joined
Lina’s hunger strike.
a) Lina and 20 other salesladies filed a complaint for illegal dismissal, contending that they are SDS
regular employees as they performed activities usually necessary or desirable in the usual business or
trade of SDS and thus, their constitutional right to security of tenure was violated when they were
dismissed without valid, just, or authorized cause. SDS, in defense, argued that Lina, et. al agreed to a
fixed period employment and thus waived their right to a full-term tenure. Decide the dispute
b) Assume that no fixed-term worker complained, yet in a routine inspection by a labor inspector,
violations to the labor code’s security of tenure provision was found and the inspector recommended the
issuance of a compliance order. The regional director adopted the recommendation and issued a
compliance order. Is the compliance order valid?

Answer:
A.) There was no re-hiring. She was a saleslady for 5 months. She was in fixed period employment and
it is valid provided that the fixed period of employment was knowingly and voluntarily agreed upon by
the employee and absent any other improper pressure being brought to bear upon the employee and
absent any other circumstances vitiating consent or it appear that the parties dealt with each other on a
more or less equal terms with no more dominance exercise by the employer over the employee.

B.) Article 128, applies only if there is employment relationship. The RD can no longer issue compliance
order on favor of employees with expired contract because there is no longer employer-employee
relationship. But if the compliance order was issued when the contract was not yet expired the
compliance order was valid.

14. Super Comfort Hotel employed a regular pool of extra waiters who are called or asked to report for
duty when the Hotel’s volume of business is beyond the capacity of the regularly employed waiters to
undertake. Pedro has been an extra waiter for more than 10 years. He is also called upon to work on
weekends, on holidays and when there are big affairs at the Hotel. What is Pedro’s status as an employee
under the Labor Code? Why? Explain your answer fully.

Answer:
Regular Seasonal worker. There is repeated hiring every season. When the hotel will not rehire
Pedro on such season it amounts to constructive or illegal dismissal.

15. Diosdado, a carpenter was hired by Building Industries Corporation (BIC) and assigned to build a
small house in Alabang. His contract of employment specifically referred to him as a “project employee”,
although it did not provide any particular date of completion of the project. Is the completion of the house
a valid cause for the termination of Diosdado’s employment? If so, what are the due process requirements
that the BIC must satisfy? If not, why not?

Answer:
The requirement of project employment is that the project or undertaking is predetermined and
no need to specify the period and at the completion of project or undertaking he is automatically
terminated.

16. True or False: Seafarers who have worked for 20 years on board the same vessel are regular
employees.

Answer:
False. Seafarers are contractual employees. They cannot be considered as regular employees.
Their employment is governed by the contract they sign every time they are rehired and their
employment is terminated when the contract expires. Their employment is contractually fixed for certain
period of time.

17. In her State of the Nation Address, the president stressed the need to provide an investor-friendly
business environment so that the country can compete in the global economy now suffers from a crisis
bordering on recession. Responding to the call, congress passed two innovative legislative measures,
namely: (1) a law abolishing the security of tenure clause in the labor Code and (2) a law allowing
contractualization in all areas needed in the employer’s business operations. However to soften the
impact of these new measures, the law requires that all employers shall obtain mandatory
unemployment insurance coverage for all their employees. The constitutionality of the two laws is
challenged in court. As judge, how will you rule?

Answer:
 A law abolishing security of tenure is unconstitutional because the security of tenure is a
constitutional right of the worker. But contractualization is not unconstitutional because it will not
violate security of tenure. They cannot be terminated within their contract period without just and
authorized cause. Their right of security tenure is not impaired.

18. A was hired to work in a sugar plantation performing such tasks as weeding, cutting and loading
canes, planting cane points, fertilizing and cleaning the drainage. Because of his daily presence in the field
was not required, A also worked as a houseboy at the house of the plantation owner. For the next
planting season, the owner decided not to hire A as a plantation worker but as a houseboy instead.
Furious, A filed a case for illegal dismissal against the plantation owner. Decide with reason.

Answer:
He is already a regular seasonal worker because he is hired every season. The illegal dismissal
case filed against the plantation owner will prosper because he is already a regular worker because of the
fact of rehiring every season. Failure to rehire amounts to illegal dismissal.

19. The workers worked as cargadores as the warehouse and ricemills of Farm A for several years. As
cargadores, they loaded, unloaded and piled sacks of rice from the warehouse to the cargo trucks for
delivery to different places. They were paid by Farm A on a piece-rate basis. Are the workers considered
regular employees?
b) Yes, Their work is directly related, necessary or vital to the operation of the farm;

20. Which of the following is correct with respect to the extent of the application of security of tenure?
b) It applies to managerial and to all rank and file employees including those under probation

21. For humanitarian reasons, a bank hired several handicapped workers to count and sort out
currencies. The handicapped workers knew that the contract was only for a period of six-months and the
same period was provided in their employment contracts. After six months, the bank terminated their
employment on the ground that their contract has expired. This prompted the workers to file with the
Labor Arbiter a complaint for illegal dismissal. Will their action prosper? Why or why not?

Answer: The action will not prosper. They are being hired on a fixed period employment.

22. Mr. Del Carmen unsure if his foray into business ( messengerial service catering purely to law firms)
would succeed but intending to go long-term if he hurdles the first year, opted to open his operations
with one-year contracts with two law firms although he also accepts messengerial service requests from
other firms as their orders come. He started with one permanent secretary and six messengers on a one-
year, fixed-term, contract. Is the arrangement legal from the perspective of labor standards?
d. Yes, because the business is temporary and the contracted undertaking is specific and time-
bound.

23. Mr. Ortanez has been in the building construction business for several years. He asks you, as his new
labor counsel, for the rules he must observer in considering regular employment in the construction
industry.
You clarify that an employee, project or non-project, will acquire regular status if _______. (1%)
b. his contract of employment has been repeatedly renewed, from project to project, for several
years

24. Aleta Quiros was a faculty member of BM Institute, a private educational institution. She was hired on
a year-to-year bsis under the probationary employment period provision of the Manual of Regulations for
Private Schools. The terms and conditions of her engagement were defined under her renewable yearly
contract. For reasons of its own, BM Institute no longer wanted to continue with Aleta’s teaching sevices.
Thus, after the contract for her second year expired, BM Institute advised Aleta that her contract would
no longer be renewed. This advice prompted Aleta to file a complaint for illegal dismissal against BM
Institute. Will the complaint prosper? (1%)
a. Yes, because no just or authorized cause existed for the termination of her probationary
employment.
Hambergis, Inc. She was hired as a contractual employee four years ago. Her contracts would be for
duration of five (5) months at a time, usually after a one month interval. Her rehiring was contingent on
her performance for the immediately preceding contract. Six (6) months after the expiration of her last
contract, Lucy went to Hambergis personnel department to require why she was not yet being recall to
work. She was told that her performance during her last contact was “below average”. Lucy seeks your
legal advice about her chances of getting her job back. What will your advice be?

Answer:
I will advise Lucy to file a complaint of illegal dismissal. The repeated rehiring of Lucy’s services
for four years are sufficient evidence that she performed activities necessary or indispensable to the
usual business or trade of employer. She is considered a regular employee because of the fact of repeated
rehiring. As provided by law, successive renewal of fixed period employment will result in a regular
employment. Lucy is performing activity necessary or desirable to the usual business of Hambergis.