Fixing fixed-term contracts

GERARDO MAXIMO FRANCISCO

To fix the problem of “endo” (end-of-contract), House Bill No. 6908 (An Act Strengthening the Security of Tenure of Workers, Amending for the Purpose Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended, otherwise known as the “Labor Code”) proposes, as one major solution (another being the expansion of what constitutes prohibited “labor-only” contracting), the prohibition of employment with a fixed-term or definite period, except in the following cases: (i) OFWs (overseas Filipino workers), (ii) workers on probation, (iii) relievers who are temporary replacements of absent regular employees whose engagements shall not exceed six months, (iv) project employees, and (v) seasonal workers. The bill further states that “[c]lauses in employment contracts providing for a fixed term or definite period of employment are void.”