Unique Skills and Talents

The complainants here were engaged on various dates as camera operators and were later dismissed in May 2013.

Because of the termination of their employment, the said camera operators filed a complaint for illegal dismissal and regularization against GMA Network, Inc. (GMA).

The camera operators asserted that they were assigned to several television programs of GMA and had performed functions that were necessary and desirable to GMA’s business as both a television and broadcasting company. They further contended that their repeated and continuous employment with GMA after each television program they covered showed the necessity and desirability of their functions. The camera operators concluded they have already attained the status of regular employees.

On the other hand, GMA asserted that the camera operators were never hired as employees, as they were merely pinch-hitters or freelancers engaged on a per-shoot basis whenever the need for additional workforce arose. Further, GMA asserted that the “service fees” given to the camera operators were “not compensation paid to an employee, but rather remuneration for the services rendered” as pinch-hitters/freelancers. GMA also belied the contention that it exercised control over the camera operators. It claimed that it only monitored the performance of their work to ensure that the “end result” is compliant with company standards.

GMA added that, even assuming that an employer-employee relationship did exist between them, the camera operators could not have attained regular status considering their failure to render “at least one year of service” as required by law.

Specifically, with respect to one of the camera operators, named Adonis, GMA added that he was engaged as a fixed-term employee under a valid “Talent Agreement.” Accordingly, Adonis’ employment was automatically terminated upon the happening of the day certain stipulated in the contract. GMA further maintained that it may not be obliged to re-engage Adonis.

Did an employer-employee relationship exist between GMA and the camera operators?

The Supreme Court did not agree with GMA’s assertion as it found that the four-fold test in determining the existence of an employer-employee relationship was met.

Jurisprudence¹Begino v. ABS-CBN Corp., G.R. No. 199166, April 20, 2015. dictates that to determine the existence of an employer-employee relationship, case law has consistently applied the four-fold test, to wit: (a) the selection and engagement of the employee; (b) the payment of wages; (c) the power of dismissal; and (d) the employer’s power to control the employee on the means and methods by which the work is accomplished. Of these criteria, the so-called “control test” is generally regarded as the most crucial and determinative indicator of the presence or absence of an employer-employee relationship. Under this test, an employer-employee relationship is said to exist where the person for whom the services are performed reserves the right to control not only the end result but also the manner and means utilized to achieve the same.

On the power of hiring, the Court found that the camera operators were engaged by GMA and had rendered services directly to it. GMA was found to have engaged the camera operators to perform functions necessary and desirable to its usual business as both a television and broadcasting company.

On the payment of wages, there was no question that GMA directly compensated the camera operators for their services. Although GMA paid the camera operators “service fees” or “talent fees,” the Court ruled that this was merely a matter of nomenclature. The Court further ruled that although the camera operators were paid on a per-shoot basis, this was only a mode of computing compensation and did not, in any way, preclude GMA’s control over the distribution of their wages and the manner by which they carried out their work. According to the Court, what matters is that the employee received compensation from the employer for the services that he or she rendered.²Chavez v. National Labor Relations Commission, G.R. No. 146530, January 17, 2005, 489 PHIL 444-462

On the power to dismiss, the Court found that GMA’s act of disengaging the camera operators from service amounted to a dismissal from employment.

Finally, on the element of control, the Court noted GMA’s implicit assertion that it engaged the camera operators as independent contractors in view its denial of an employer-employee relationship, coupled with the claim that it merely exercised control over the output required of the camera operators. The Court thus inquired whether the camera operators fell within the concept of an independent contractor.

Jurisprudence³Fuji Television Network, Inc. v. Espiritu, G.R. Nos. 204944-45, December 3, 2014, 749 PHIL 388-450 has recognized a certain kind of independent contractor: individuals with unique skills and talents that set them apart from ordinary employees. In such a situation there is no trilateral relationship (as in legitimate contracting provided under Article 106 of the Labor Code of the Philippines) because the independent contractor himself or herself performs the work for the principal. In other words, the relationship is bilateral.

In the present case, the Court found that the relationship between GMA and the camera operators was bilateral since the camera operators themselves performed work for GMA. Therefore, in order to be considered independent contractors GMA should establish that the camera operators were hired because of their “unique skills and talents” and that they were not controlled over the means and methods of their work.

However, the Court found no proof that they were hired because of their unique skills, talent and celebrity status not possessed by ordinary employees.

Significantly, there was a showing that the camera operators were subject to GMA’s control in that:

• Their recordings and shoots were never left to their own discretion and craft;
• They were required to follow the work schedules which GMA provided to them;
• They were not allowed to leave the work site during tapings, which often lasted for days;
• They were also required to follow company rules like any other employee.

The Court also found that GMA provided the equipment they used during tapings and assigned supervisors to monitor their performance and guarantee their compliance with company protocols and standards.

Should the camera operators be considered regular employees of GMA?

The Supreme Court ruled in the affirmative.

It found that GMA is primarily engaged in the business of broadcasting, which encompasses the production of television programs. Following the nature of its business, GMA was naturally and logically expected to engage the service of camera operators, such as the camera operators. The Court said that there was no denying that a reasonable connection exists between camera operators’ work and GMA’s business as both a television and broadcasting company. The repeated engagement of camera operators over the years only reinforces the indispensability of their services to GMA’s business. For the Court, the camera operators were GMA’s regular employees.

The Court did not accept GMA’s assertion that the camera operators were mere casual employees.

The Court stated that it is clear from the law that the requirement of rendering “at least one (1) year of service[,]” before an employee is deemed to have attained regular status, only applies to casual employees. An employee is regarded a casual employee if he or she was engaged to perform functions which are NOT necessary and desirable to the usual business and trade of the employer. Thus, when one is engaged to perform functions which are necessary and desirable to the usual business and trade of the employer, engagement for a year-long duration is not a controlling consideration.

The Court stressed that GMA’s claim that the camera operators were required to render at least one (1) year of service before they may be considered regular employees had no basis in law. This was because the camera operators were never casual employees as they performed functions that were necessary and desirable to the usual business of GMA. For the Court, the camera operators need not render a year’s worth of service to be considered regular employees.

Although the Court noted that the camera operators’ functions could mean that they were project employees whose engagements were fundamentally time-bound, the Court ruled that they were not. The Court found that GMA repeatedly engaged them as camera operators for its television programs. As camera operators, they performed activities which were within the regular and usual business of GMA and NOT identifiably distinct or separate from the other undertakings of GMA. According to the Court, it would be absurd to consider the nature of their work of operating cameras as distinct or separate from the business of GMA, a broadcasting company that produces, records, and airs television programs. From this alone, the camera operators could not be considered project employees for there was no distinctive “project” to even speak of.

On GMA’s assertion that the camera operators were merely pinch-hitters or substitutes, the Court did not lend credence to the same. According to the Court, every industry has to deal with securing substitutes for employees who are absent or on leave. Such tasks, whether performed by the usual employee or by a substitute, cannot be considered separate and distinct from the other undertakings of the company. While it is management’s prerogative to device a method to deal with this issue, such prerogative is not absolute and is limited to systems wherein employees are not ingeniously and methodically deprived of their constitutionally protected right to security of tenure. It is unlikely that a big corporation could not device a system wherein a sufficient number of technicians can be hired with a regular status who can take over when their colleagues are absent or on leave, especially when it appears from the records that petitioner hires so-called pinch-hitters regularly every month.

Finally, on GMA’s assertion of Adonis’ fixed-term employment, the Court did not accept the same. The Court said that it would be improper to classify Adonis as a fixed-term employee considering that GMA did not even allege the manner as to how the terms of the contract with him were agreed upon. The Court stressed that it is “the employer which must satisfactorily show that it was not in a dominant position of advantage in dealing with its prospective employee.” Thus, GMA as the employer had the burden to prove that it dealt with Adonis in more or less equal terms in the execution of the talent agreements with him. Sweeping guarantees that the contract was knowingly and voluntarily agreed upon by the parties and that the employer and the employee stood on equal footing will not suffice. The Court added that although Adonis never contested the execution of his talent agreements, such could not preclude him from attaining regular employment status. In the words of the Court, it is not blind to the unfortunate tendency for many employees to cede their right to security of tenure rather than face total unemployment.

Were the camera operators validly dismissed from employment?

The Supreme Court ruled that the camera operators were illegally dismissed from employment since GMA failed to allege and that the camera operators’ dismissals were impelled by any of the just or authorized causes recognized in the Labor Code of the Philippines. The camera operators were thus awarded the reliefs of reinstatement and backwages.

Further reading:

• Paragele v. GMA Network, Inc., G.R. No. 235315, July 13, 2020.