Seasonal Employees | POST-EMPLOYMENT: KINDS OF EMPLOYMENT

Comprehensive Discussion on Seasonal Employees Under Philippine Labor Law

Overview and Definition
Under Philippine labor law, "seasonal employees" are workers engaged on an employment arrangement where the services required by the employer are, by their nature, dependent upon a particular season or period of the year. This category commonly applies to industries and sectors whose business operations are cyclical or intermittent, such as agriculture (e.g., sugarcane milling, fruit harvesting), tourism (e.g., peak holiday seasons), canning factories (e.g., fishing and harvest seasons), and similar fields that revolve around recurring natural or market cycles.

Governing Principles and Legal Basis
While the Labor Code of the Philippines does not explicitly define “seasonal employment” in a single provision, its concept has emerged from a combination of statutory interpretation, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) rules, and a substantial body of Supreme Court jurisprudence. Articles 294 (formerly 279) and 295 (formerly 280) of the Labor Code, which discuss types of employment and the nature of regular employment, have been interpreted by the courts to accommodate the notion of employees whose services recur every season.

Nature and Character of Seasonal Employment

1. Seasonal Nature of Work:
   Seasonal employment inherently ties the duration of the employee’s services to a given season or period that is inextricably linked to the nature of the employer’s business. For instance, in agricultural plantations that only harvest crops at certain times of the year, laborers are needed only during the harvesting season. During off-seasons, the nature of the work disappears.

2. Recurring Need for Employees:
   A hallmark of seasonal employment is that the need for workers repeats each season. The employment is not a one-time project, but a cyclical need. This distinguishes seasonal employment from project employment, where the engagement is tied to the completion of a particular project or undertaking that is not necessarily recurring. Seasonal workers often return to the same employer year after year for each succeeding season.

3. "Regular Seasonal Employees":
   The Supreme Court of the Philippines has developed the concept of “regular seasonal employees.” While seasonal employees may not render service all year round, they can still attain the status of regular employees, albeit regular on a seasonal basis. Once these employees have been engaged for several seasons, performing tasks necessary and desirable to the employer’s line of business, the law deems them regular employees during the seasons in which their services are required.

   Key Point: The test of regularity is not continuous or unbroken service throughout the year, but recurring employment of the same individuals over the course of seasonal cycles. The necessity and desirability of their tasks to the usual business of the employer, and the pattern of their engagement season after season, create a regular seasonal employment relationship.

Jurisprudential Landmarks
The Supreme Court has clarified and solidified the status of seasonal employees through various rulings:

• Hacienda Luisita, Inc. v. Nicolas (G.R. No. 143318, November 27, 2008): The Court recognized that employees repeatedly engaged every year during the harvest or milling season become regular seasonal employees. Although their work is intermittent and tied to the season, their pattern of engagement and the integral nature of their tasks to the company’s business confer regularity of employment.

• Other cases involving agricultural plantations, sugar mills, and resorts have similarly established that the continuing necessity for seasonal employees’ services, year after year, grants them regular seasonal status.

Rights and Entitlements of Seasonal Employees

1. Security of Tenure:
   Regular seasonal employees enjoy security of tenure. Although their actual work may cease during off-seasons, their employment relationship is not deemed terminated each time the season ends. Rather, the employment is “suspended” during off-peak periods. When the next season commences, the employer must rehire them, barring a lawful cause for termination or non-reengagement (e.g., just or authorized causes under the Labor Code).

2. Statutory Benefits and Wages:
   Seasonal employees are entitled to the benefits mandated by law while they are at work. This includes compliance with minimum wage laws, holiday pay, premium pay for overtime, 13th month pay, service incentive leaves (if applicable within the season’s duration), coverage under SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG, as well as other statutory and CBA-derived benefits where applicable. Even if their employment is temporary each season, labor standards still apply during periods of active employment.

3. Due Process in Termination or Non-Reengagement:
   If an employer decides not to rehire a seasonal employee for the next season, such decision must be justified by a valid reason. Regular seasonal employees cannot be arbitrarily replaced. Just and authorized causes must comply with due process requirements—notice and hearing, or at least the opportunity to explain—in accordance with the Labor Code and established jurisprudence.

4. Continuity of Employment Relation:
   The absence of work during the off-season does not sever the employment relationship if the parties have established a pattern of recurrent seasonal engagement. The break between seasons is considered a temporary suspension of the employment relationship, not a termination. Employers who fail to recall regular seasonal employees without valid cause risk liability for illegal dismissal.

Distinguishing Seasonal Employees from Other Types of Employees

1. From Regular Year-Round Employees:
   Regular year-round employees perform necessary or desirable tasks on a continuous basis. Seasonal employees perform equally necessary and desirable tasks but only during a limited period each year.

2. From Project Employees:
   Project employees are engaged for a specific project or undertaking with a predetermined scope and termination. Once the project ends, the employment ends. Seasonal employees, on the other hand, are engaged in recurring cycles and expect to be reengaged as each cycle (season) begins anew.

3. From Casual Employees:
   Casual employees perform work not usually necessary or desirable to the business and lack the element of regularity. Seasonal employees, though not continuously employed year-round, perform work that is a normal and indispensable part of the business—just in a seasonal capacity.

Impact of Social Legislation and Policy Considerations
Social legislation in the Philippines ensures the inclusion of seasonal employees under social protection floors. They are covered by the Social Security System (SSS), PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG Fund during periods of employment. The DOLE and related agencies acknowledge that seasonal employment arrangements should not be used to circumvent labor rights and benefits. The policy aim is to ensure that workers engaged in inherently seasonal work are not unfairly deprived of security of tenure, statutory benefits, and basic labor standards.

Practical Guidance for Employers and Employees

• Employers: Must treat their recurring seasonal workforce fairly, observe statutory labor standards during seasons of employment, and ensure due process and valid grounds before refusing to recall workers. Employers should also maintain clear records of employment for each season, to establish the consistent pattern of engagement.

• Employees: Should keep track of the number of seasons they have worked, maintain proof of recurring engagement, and understand that once regular seasonal status is attained, they have vested rights to be rehired each season absent a valid reason. If disputes arise, employees may seek redress before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) or the courts.

Conclusion
Seasonal employees occupy a unique niche under Philippine labor law. Although their actual rendering of services is confined to particular periods within the year, their relationship with the employer can become “regular” in nature if the work recurs consistently and is essential to the enterprise. Philippine jurisprudence safeguards their security of tenure, ensures their entitlement to labor standard benefits during their active employment, and imposes on employers the obligation of fairness and due process in both hiring and discontinuation of engagement.

In essence, the legal framework for seasonal employment in the Philippines balances the seasonal character of certain industries with the fundamental labor right to security of tenure. Once an employment pattern establishes that a particular set of employees is seasonally indispensable and regularly reengaged, those employees are no longer treated as mere casual hires; they become regular seasonal employees vested with legal protections parallel to those of year-round workers, adapted to the specific and cyclical needs of their industry.