FIELD PERSONNEL

By: Atty. Edwin E. Torres (MSU 2018)

​
LABOR CODE:

“ART. 82. Coverage. - The provisions of this title shall apply to employees in all establishments
and undertakings whether for profit or not, but not to government employees, managerial
employees, field personnel, members of the family of the employer who are dependent on him for
support, domestic helpers, persons in the personal service of another, and workers who are paid by
results as determined by the Secretary of Labor in appropriate regulations.

x xx ​ ​ ​ ​xxx ​ ​ ​ ​xxx
“Field personnel” shall refer to non-agricultural employees who regularly perform their duties
away from the principal place of business or branch office of the employer and whose actual
working hours of work in the field cannot be determined with reasonable certainty.”

​
ARTICLE 94 OF THE LABOR CODE:

“ART. 94. Right to holiday pay. (a) Every worker shall be paid his regular daily wage during
regular holidays, except in retail and service establishments regularly employing less than (10)
workers[.] [emphasis ours]

xxx ​ ​ ​xxx ​ ​ ​xxx

SECTION 1. Coverage. – This Rule shall apply to all employees except:

xxx ​ ​ ​xxx ​ ​ ​xxx

(e) ​
Field personnel and other employees whose time and performance is unsupervised by
the employer including those who are engaged on task or contract basis, purely commission basis,
or those who are paid a fixed amount for performing work irrespective of the time consumed in
the performance thereof.”

RULE IV (“HOLIDAYS WITH PAY”), BOOK III, OMNIBUS RULES IMPLEMENTING

THE LABOR CODE:

“Section 1. Coverage. – This Rule shall apply to all employees, except:

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 (e) ​
Field personnel and other employees whose time and performance is unsupervised by
the employer, including those who are engaged on task or contract basis, purely commission basis,
or those who are paid a fixed amount for performing work irrespective of the time consumed in
the performance thereof.”

ARTICLE 95 OF THE LABOR CODE:

Art. 95. Right to service incentive. (a) Every employee who has rendered at least one year of
service shall be entitled to a yearly service incentive leave of five days with pay.

(b) This provision shall not apply to those who are already enjoying the benefit herein provided,
those enjoying vacation leave with pay of at least five days and those employed in establishments
regularly employing less than ten employees or in establishments exempted from granting this
benefit by the Secretary of Labor and Employment after considering the viability or financial
condition of such establishment. [emphases ours]

RULE II (“NIGHT SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL”), BOOK III, OMNIBUS RULES

IMPLEMENTING THE LABOR CODE: ​

“Section 1. Coverage. – This Rule shall apply to all employees, except:

(e) ​
Field personnel and other employees whose time and performance is unsupervised by
the employer, including those who are engaged on task or contract basis, purely commission basis,
or those who are paid a fixed amount for performing work irrespective of the time consumed in
the performance thereof.”

RULE V (“SERVICE INCENTIVE LEAVE”), BOOK III, OMNIBUS RULES

IMPLEMENTING THE LABOR CODE:

“Section 1. Coverage. – This Rule shall apply to all employees, except:

(e) ​
Field personnel and other employees whose time and performance is unsupervised by
the employer, including those who are engaged on task or contract basis, purely commission basis,
or those who are paid a fixed amount for performing work irrespective of the time consumed in
the performance thereof.”

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1. ​
The “title” referred to by Article 82 of the Labor Code is Title I, Book Three, on “Working Conditions
and Rest Periods.” Said title covers the following benefits: (a) night shift differentials; (b) overtime work; (c)
holiday pay; and (d) service incentive leave. In effect, these benefits are not available to field personnel.

2. ​
The definition of a "field personnel" is not merely concerned with the location where the employee
regularly performs his duties but also with the fact that the employee’s performance is unsupervised by the
employer. Field personnel are those who regularly perform their duties away from the principal place of business of
the employer and whose actual hours of work in the field cannot be determined with reasonable certainty. Thus, in
order to determine whether an employee is a field employee, it is also necessary to ascertain if actual hours of work
in the field can be determined with reasonable certainty by the employer. In so doing, an inquiry must be made as to
whether or not the employee’s time and performance are constantly supervised by the employer.In a case, company
drivers are not field personnel for the following reasons: (1) the company driversare directed to deliver the goods at
a specified time and place; (2) they are not given the discretion to solicit, select and contact prospective clients; and

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 (3) Far East issued a directive that company drivers should stay at the client’s premises during truck-ban hours
which is from 5:00 to 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. The drivers can report early in the morning, to make their
deliveries, or in the afternoon, depending on the production of animal feeds. The driversare under the control and
supervision of management officers. They are, therefore, regular employees whose tasks are usually necessary and
desirable to the usual trade and business of the company. Thus, they are entitled to the benefits accorded to regular
employees of Far East, including OVERTIME PAYand SERVICE INCENTIVE LEAVE PAY.

2. ​
Article 82 of the Code lists personnel who are not entitled to holiday pay and service incentive
leaves.Among the excluded group are "field personnel," referring to non-agricultural employees who regularly
perform their duties away from the principal place of business or branch office of the employer and whose actual
hours of work in the field cannot be determined with reasonable certainty. As a general proposition, field personnel
are those whose job/service are not or cannot be effectively monitored by the employer or his representative, their
workplace being away from the principal office and whose hours and days of work cannot be determined with
reasonable certainty.Field personnel are paid specific amount for rendering specific service or performing specific
work.If required to be at specific places at specific times, employees, including drivers, cannot be said to be field
personnel despite the fact that they are performing work away from the principal office of the employer. Thus, to
determine whether an employee is a field employee, it is also necessary to ascertain if actual hours of work in the
field can be determined with reasonable certainty by the employer. In so doing, an inquiry must be made as to
whether or not the employee’s time and performance are constantly supervised by the employer.Guided by the
foregoing norms, petitioner was definitely a regular employee of respondent company and not its field personnel, as
the term is used in the Labor Code.As it were, he was based at the principal office of the respondent company. His
actual work hours, i.e., from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., were ascertainable with reasonable certainty. He averaged 21
trips per month. And if not driving for the company, he was paid P125.00 per day for cleaning and maintaining
KTC’s equipment. Not falling under the category of field personnel, petitioner is consequently entitled to both
holiday pay and service incentive leave pay, as mandated by Articles 94 and 95 of the Labor Code.

3. ​
The general rule is that HOLIDAYand SIL pay provisions cover all employees. To be excluded from
their coverage, an employee must be one of those that these provisions expressly exempt, strictly in accordance with
the exemption.Under the IRR, exemption from the coverage of holiday and SIL pay refer to "field personnel and
other employees whose time and performance is unsupervised by the employer including those who are engaged on
task or contract basis[.]" Note that unlike Article 82 of the Labor Code, the IRR on holiday and SIL pay do not
exclude employees "engaged on task basis" as a separate and distinct category from employees classified as "field
personnel." Rather, these employees are altogether merged into one classification of exempted employees.In short,
the payment of an employee on task or pakyaw basis alone is insufficient to exclude one from the coverage of SIL
and holiday pay. They are exempted from the coverage of Title I (including the holiday and SIL pay) only if they
qualify as "field personnel." The phrase "including those who are engaged on task or contract basis, purely
commission basis" found in Section 1(d), Rule V of Book III of the IRR should not be understood as a separate
classification of employees to which SIL shall not be granted. Rather, as with its preceding phrase - "other
employees whose performance is unsupervised by the employer" - the phrase "including those who are engaged on
task or contract basis" serves to amplify the interpretation of the Labor Code definition of "field personnel" as those
"whose actual hours of work in the field cannot be determined with reasonable certainty."

4. ​The grant of SERVICE INCENTIVE LEAVEhas been delimited by the Implementing Rules and
Regulations of the Labor Code to apply only to those employees not explicitly excluded by Section 1 of Rule V.
According to the Implementing Rules, Service Incentive Leave shall not apply to employees classified as "field
personnel." The phrase "other employees whose performance is unsupervised by the employer" must not be
understood as a separate classification of employees to which service incentive leave shall not be granted. Rather, it
serves as an amplification of the interpretation of the definition of field personnel under the Labor Code as those
"whose actual hours of work in the field cannot be determined with reasonable certainty."The same is true with
respect to the phrase "those who are engaged on task or contract basis, purely commission basis." Said phrase
should be related with "field personnel," applying the rule on ejusdem generis that general and unlimited terms are
restrained and limited by the particular terms that they follow.Hence, employees engaged on task or contract basis or
paid on purely commission basis are not automatically exempted from the grant of service incentive leave, unless,
they fall under the classification of field personnel.Therefore, petitioner’s contention that respondent is not entitled
to the grant of service incentive leave just because he was paid on purely commission basis is misplaced. What must
be ascertained in order to resolve the issue of propriety of the grant of service incentive leave to respondent is
whether or not he is a field personnel.

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