ABC Company intends to hire X as an employee for a particular project phase. X’s employment will terminate upon the completion of the project phase which will come earlier than the project end-date. Can X be hired as a project employee?
As discussed in my previous column, in the case of Freyssinet Filipinas Corp. v. Amado R. Lapuz, G.R. No. 226722, 18 March 2019, the Supreme Court held that project employment exists when the employee is hired under a contract which specifies that the employment will last only for a specific project or undertaking, the completion or termination of which is determined at the time of engagement.
Section 2.2 of Department Order No. 19-93 provides for the following indicators of project employment:
(a) The duration of the specific/identified undertaking for which the worker is engaged is reasonably determinable. (b) Such duration, as well as the specific work/service to be performed, is defined in an employment agreement and is made clear to the employee at the time of hiring.
(c) The work/service performed by the employee is in connection with the particular project/undertaking for which he is engaged.
(d) The employee, while not employed and awaiting engagement, is free to offer his services to any other employer.
(e) The termination of his employment in the particular project/undertaking is reported to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Regional Office having jurisdiction over the workplace within 30 days following the date of his separation from work, using the prescribed form on employees’ terminations/dismissals/suspensions. (f) An undertaking in the employment contract by the employer to pay completion bonus to the project employee as practiced by most construction companies.
In the case of Millennium Erectors Corporation v. Magallanes (G.R. No. 184362, 15 November 2010), “the service of project employees are coterminus with the project and may be terminated upon the end or completion of that project or project phase for which they are hired.”
Further, in Minsola v. New City.Builders, Inc. and Fajardo (G.R. No. 207613, 31 January 2018), the Court described a project employee as a person “assigned to a particular project or phase, which begins and ends at a determined or determinable time.”
Thus, X may be hired as a project employee. His employment will end at the time of the completion date of the project phase.
