2. Casual

Casual employment

It is an employment where the Ee is engaged in an activity which is not usually necessary or desirable in the usual business or trade of the Er, provided, such employment is neither Project nor Seasonal. (Art. 295, LC) He performs only an incidental job in relation to the principal activity of the Er.

NOTE: But despite the distinction between regular and casual employment, every Ee shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges and shall be subject to the same duties as may be granted by law to regular Ees during the period of their actual employment.

An Ee is engaged to perform a job, work or service which is merely incidental to the business of the Er, and such job, work or service is for a definite period made known to the Ee at the time of engagement. (Sec. 5(b), Rule I, Book VI, IRR)

Employment is casual when it is irregular, unpredictable, sporadic, and brief in nature, and outside the usual business of the Er. (Caro v. Rilloraza, G.R. No. L-9569, 30 Sept. 1997)

Casual Ee becoming a Regular Ee

If he has rendered at least one (1) year of service, whether such service is continuous or broken, he is considered as regular Ee with respect to the activity in which he is employed, and his employment shall continue while such activity exists.

A casual Ee is only casual for one (1) year, and it is the passage of time that gives him a regular status. (KASAMMA-CCO v. CA, G.R. No. 159828, 19 Apr. 2006)

The purpose is to give meaning to the constitutional guarantee of security of tenure and right to self- organization. (Mercado v. NLRC, G.R. No. 79868, 05 Sept. 1991)

NOTE: The scheme of the employer in hiring workers on a uniformly fixed contract basis of 5 months and replacing them upon the expiration of their contracts with other workers with the same employment status was found to have been designed to prevent “casual” employees from attaining the status of a regular employee. (Pure Foods Corporation v. NLRC, G.R. No. 122653, 12 Dec. 1997)

Q: Yakult Phils. is engaged in the manufacture of cultured milk. The workers were hired to cut cogon grass and weeds at the back of the factory building used by Yakult. They were not required to work on fixed schedule, and they worked on any day of the week on their own discretion and convenience. The services of the workers were terminated by Yakult before the expiration of the 1-year period.

May casual or temporary Ees be dismissed by the Er before the expiration of the 1-year period of employment?

A: YES. The usual business or trade of Yakult Phils. is the manufacture of cultured milk. The cutting of the cogon grasses in the premises of its factory is hardly necessary or desirable in the usual business of the Yakult.

The workers are casual Ees. Nevertheless, they may be considered regular Ees if they have rendered services for at least 1 year. When, as in this case, they were dismissed from their employment before the expiration of the 1 year period, they cannot lawfully claim that their dismissal was illegal. (Capule, et al. v. NLRC, G.R. No. 90653, 12 Nov. 1990)

Casual vs. Project Employee

PROBATIONARY