Employer-Employee Relationship

Case No. 13 – Tutoy

Begino vs. ABS-CBN, 199166
Facts:
Respondent engaged the services of Petitioners as cameramen, editors, or reporters for TV
Broadcasting. Petitioners signed regularly renewed Talent Contracts and Project Assignment
Forms which detailed the duration, budget and daily technical requirements of a particular
project, as well as covered news items for subsequent daily airings in Respondent’s TV Patrol
Bicol Program. The talent contract between the two parties, however, has an exclusivity clause
which provides that nothing therein shall be deemed or construed to establish an employer-
employee relationship between the parties. Petitioners then filed a complaint for regularization in
the NLRC’s Arbitration branch claiming that they worked under the direct control of
Respondent, Villafuerte, and were mandated to wear company I.D.s, they were provided the
necessary equipment, they were informed about the news to be covered the following day, and
they were bound by the company’s policy on attendance and punctuality. While the case was
pending, Petitioners’ contract were terminated; thus, they filed a complaint for illegal dismissal.

Issue: W/N Petitioners are regular employees of Respondents.

Ruling:
Yes. As cameramen, editors and reporters, it appears that Petitioners were subject to the control
and supervision of Respondents which provided them with the equipment essential for the
discharge of their functions. The exclusivity clause and prohibitions in their Talent Contract were
likewise indicative of Respondents' control over them, however obliquely worded.

Main Point:
Of the criteria to determine whether there is an employer-employee relationship, the so-called
"control test" is generally regarded as the most crucial and determinative indicator of the said
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.