University of Cebu-Banilad Library

Thesis (Degree of Juris Doctor) -- University of Cebu- Banilad, 2017.

Summary: Misclassification of an employee as an independent contractor continually plagues our legal system. Some entrepreneurs would prevent the workers from being classified as an employee to reduce business expenses. Employee classification warrants the entitlements of both constitutional and statutory privileges such as the right to security of tenure, social security benefits, health care coverage, holiday pay and leaves credit. On the other hand, an independent contractor is barred from receiving the above mentioned benefits. As such, misclassification of workers is prohibited by law. Despite the prohibition, the scheme of engaging workers as independent contractors when they should be classified as employees is utilized by start-up software development companies to save labor cost. The company harbors itself in the gap in the Labor Code governing employee and independent contractors. In this study, the Constitution, Labor Code of the Philippines, administrative issuances of the Department of Labor and Employment as well as both local and international jurisprudence are examined to determine the legal status of the software developers engaged as independent contractors. The result of the study indicates that the software developers should be classified as employees. The bilateral relationship between the software development company and the software developers is a proof of an employer-employee relationship. The company's exercise of control and the power to hire and fire also supports this conclusion. Lastly, the economic dependence test yields the result that the software developers are financially dependent on a single employer for the continued engagement in this line of work. Therefore, the software developers should be properly classified as employees.

Law Law

Law Law

English