G.R. No. 220935 & G.R. No. 219868, July 28, 2020
ARIEL ESPINA, ANALY DOLOJAN, DARIA DONOR, ROEL DONOR, ET AL., PETITIONERS, VS. HIGHLANDS CAMP/RAWLINGS FOUNDATION, INC. AND JAYVELYN PASCAL, RESPONDENTS. [and] EDWIN ADONA, DARYLE MONTEVIRGEN, EDERLINA ESTEBAN, ET AL., PETITIONERS, VS. HIGHLANDS CAMP/RAWLINGS FOUNDATION, INC. AND JAYVELYN PASCAL, RESPONDENTS.

FACTS

Two groups of employees filed separate complaints for illegal dismissal and non-payment of benefits against respondents Highlands Camp/Rawlings Foundation, Inc. (a non-profit religious organization managing a camping site) and its Administrator, Jayvelyn Pascal. Petitioners were hired as cooks, cook helpers, utility workers, and service crew starting in 2000. They alleged they worked regularly from January to June each year, were on call from July to September, reported daily in October (peak season), and were on call in November/December. They claimed the camp operated year-round and they were required to submit pre-employment documents annually. In 2011, after submitting requirements, they were not rehired and were replaced by new employees. They argued their repeated rehiring and performance of necessary work made them regular employees, and their non-rehire constituted illegal dismissal. Respondents countered that petitioners were seasonal employees hired only for peak seasons, their work averaged less than three months per year, their employment ended each season, and they had to reapply annually. Respondents also claimed petitioners’ services (cooks, helpers, utility) were not necessary to the camp’s primary religious purpose. The Labor Arbiter and the NLRC ruled petitioners were regular employees, illegally dismissed, and awarded separation pay, backwages, and benefits. The Court of Appeals reversed, finding petitioners were seasonal employees whose termination at each season’s end was valid.

ISSUE

1. Were petitioners seasonal or regular employees?
2. Was their dismissal valid?

RULING

1. Petitioners were regular seasonal employees. The Supreme Court ruled that while petitioners performed work seasonal in nature (camp operations peak during certain months), they had been engaged for such seasons repeatedly and successively for over ten years. Their tasks (cooks, helpers, utility, service crew) were necessary and desirable in the usual business of operating a camping site, regardless of its religious nonprofit character. The repeated rehiring for the same kind of work every season over many years conferred upon them the status of regular employees with respect to the seasonal activities. They were not merely project or casual employees. The Court emphasized that seasonal employment does not automatically preclude regular status if the employment recurs every season.
2. Their dismissal was illegal. As regular seasonal employees, petitioners enjoyed security of tenure. Their termination after the 2010 season, by simply not rehiring them in 2011 without any authorized or just cause under the Labor Code and without due process, constituted illegal dismissal. The employer’s failure to rehire them, after they had signified their intent to resume work by submitting the required pre-employment documents, was a dismissal in disguise. The valid termination of a seasonal employee occurs only at the end of each season, but the dismissal here was illegal because it was done without cause and due process. Consequently, petitioners are entitled to full backwages and separation pay in lieu of reinstatement, as the camp’s continued operation and the nature of their work made reinstatement impractical.