Sample Project Employment Contract in Filipino / Tagalog

Project employment is one of the exceptions to regular employment under Article 295 of the Labor Code, as amended.

As a rule, an employment is deemed to be regular where the employee has been engaged to perform activities which are usually necessary or desirable in the usual business or trade of the employer. However, employment may be made for a particular project or undertaking the duration of which is made known to the employee at the time of engagement.

The “project” for the carrying out of which “project employees” are hired would ordinarily have some relationship to the usual business of the employer. (Toyo Seat Philippines Corporation vs. Velasco, G.R. No. 240774, March 03, 2021)

Exceptionally, the “project” undertaking might not have an ordinary or normal relationship to the usual business of the employer. According to the Supreme Court (SC), in this latter case, the determination of the scope and parameters of the “project” becomes fairly easy. (Citing ALU-TUCP vs. National Labor Relations Commission, 304 Phil. 844 (1994).)

For the SC, it is unusual (but still conceivable) for a company to undertake a project which has absolutely no relationship to the usual business of the company; thus, for instance, it would be an unusual steel-making company which would undertake the breeding and production of fish or the cultivation of vegetables.

There should be no difficulty in designating the employees who are retained or hired for the purpose of undertaking fish culture or the production of vegetables as “project employees,” as distinguished from ordinary or “regular employees,” so long as the duration and scope of the project were determined or specified at the time of engagement of the “project employees.” For, as is evident from the provisions of Article 280 [now 295] of the Labor Code, quoted earlier, the principal test for determining whether particular employees are properly characterized as “project employees” as distinguished from “regular employees,” is whether or not the “project employees” were assigned to carry out a “specific project or undertaking,” the duration (and scope) of which were specified at the time the employees were engaged for that project.

The term “project” could also refer to, secondly, a particular job or undertaking that is not within the regular business of the corporation. Such a job or undertaking must also be identifiably separate and distinct from the ordinary or regular business operations of the employer. The job or undertaking also begins and ends at determined or determinable times.

The ALU-TUCP ruling has since become entrenched in our jurisprudence.40 Accordingly, workers may be considered project employees regardless of the nature of the work they perform, as long as the essential elements of project employment are alleged and proven, i.e., 1) that they were hired for a specific project or undertaking; and 2) the completion or termination of the project or undertaking for which they were hired has been determined at the time of their engagement.

Project employment is further regulated by DOLE Department Order No. 19, Series of 1993 (DO 19-1993).

In crafting your project employment contract the employer may also consider the capability of the employee to understand the terms and conditions. While the English language is the default version of the contract, the employer may have it in Filipino / Tagalog especially for workers or labor force members who are not conversant in the English language.

It is not easy to craft this in local language, but we have here a partial template that can guide the employer, HR practitioner, business owners, managers, etc.

See our partial template below as your guide or get the full version here.

KONTRATA PARA SA TRABAHONG PROYEKTO

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:

         Ang Kontrata Para sa Trabahong Proyekto  ay isinagawa nina:

         XYZ Corporation, a corporation duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the Republic of the Philippines with principal place of business at 123 Bldg., Ayala Ave., Makati City, xxxx known as the “EMPLOYER”,

-at-

1. ________________________, of legal age, and a resident of _____________________________________________, hereinafter called the “PROJECT EMPLOYEE,”

PINATUTUNAYAN:

SAMAKATUWID, ang EMPLOYER ay nangangailangan ng empleyado na magsisimula bilang trabahador sa isang proyekto xxxx

SAMAKATUWID, ang PROJECT EMPLOYEE ay naghahanap ng trabaho at nagpaalam xxx sa isang proyekto;

SAMAKATUWID, ang kasunduan xxxx dito;

KUNG KAYA, nagkasundo ang mga partido at nagsasaad ng mga sumusunod:

SIMULA NG KONTRATA PARA SA PANSAMANTALANG TRABAHO

1. Ang PROJECT EMPLOYEE ay tinang xxxx Pintor,Watchman, etc.);

2. The PROJECT EMPLOYEE ay magsagawa xxxxx aspeto nito;

3. Ang kontratang ito ay magsisimula sa _______________ xxxx tinatayang sa ___________ 20____;

4. Ang PROJECT EMPLOYEE ay hindi regular xxxxx sa mga regular na empleyado;

5. Ang PROJECT EMPLOYEE ay malayang mag-alok ng xxxx ng proyekto o bahagi nito;

6. Ang PROJECT EMPLOYEE ay tatanggap ng sahod xxxxx sa itinakdang patakaran at kalakaran sa loob ng kompanya tungkol sa “cut-off period”;

7. Ang PROJECT EMPLOYEE ay papasok sa trabaho xxxx ay ituturing na pag-abandona sa trabaho;

ANG PROYEKTO

8. Ang PROJECT EMPLOYEE ay magtatrabaho bilang isang xxxx XYZ Condominium;

9. Ang inaasahang pagtatapos ng bahagi ng xxxxx;

10. Bilang PROJECT EMPLOYEE, siya ay magsagawa ng mga gawain at responsibilidad na nakasaad sa Annex “A” nitong kasunduan;

11. Kung sakaling ang proyekto ay lumagpas xxxx ang aktuwal na katapusan nito;

12. Ang nakatakdang katapusan xxxxx apply sa trabaho at nagsimula;

COMPLETION BONUS

13. Kapag ang xxxx

KUSANG-LOOB NA PAGPIRMA SA KONTRATA

14. Ang mga partido ay kusang-loob xxxx;

PAGSANG-AYON SA ILALIM NG DATA PRIVACY LAW

15. Sa pagbibigay xxxx.

PAG-AYON SA PAG-REPORT SA DOLE SA PAGTATAPOS NG KONTRATA

16. Sumasang-ayon ang PROJECT EMPLOYEE na ipaalam o i-report sa DOLE ang pagtatapos ng kontrata na mangangahulugan ng tunay na estado ng project employment. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have hereby affixed their respective signature this ____ day of _______, 20___, in the City of ____________.

For the COMPANY:

_____________________                                     ________________________

(Position Title)                                                          PROJECT EMPLOYEE

ID: ______________________                             ID: ________________________ 

Signed in the presence of:

__________________________                          _________________________

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

Republic of the Philippines )

City of _______________  ) S.S.

            BEFORE ME, a notary public for and in the City of ______________, the parties appeared and presented their respective identification cards as competent proof of identity and are known to me and to me known to be the same persons who executed the foregoing Contract for Project Employment consisting of three (3) pages, including this page where the Acknowledgment is written and affirmed to me that the same is their own, free, voluntary act and deed.

            WITNESS MY HAND AND SEAL, this _____ day of __________, 201_______  

Doc. No.: _________;

Page No.: _________;

Book No.: _________;

Series of 20___

Avail of the full version of the Project Employment Contract here:

1. Project Employment Contract – English Version Soft Copy
2. Project Employment Contract – Filipino / Tagalog Soft Copy