Imbuido v.

NLRC

FACTS: Petitioner was employed as a date encoder by private respondent. From 1988 until
1991, she entered into 13 employmentcontracts with private respondent, each contract for a
period of 3 months. In September 1991, petitioner and 12 other employees allegedly agreed to
the filing of a PCE of the rank and file employees of private respondent. Subsequently, petition
received a termination latter due to “low volume of work.” Petitioner filed a complaint for illegal
dismissal. The labor Arbiterfound in favor of petitioner ruling that she was a regular employee.
The NLRC reversed the decision stating that although petitioner is a regular employee, she has
no tenurial security beyond the period for which she was hired (only up to the time the specific
project for which she was hired was completed). Petitioner filed the present appeal.

ISSUE: W/N petitioner is a regular employee entitled to tenurial security and was therefore
unjustly dismissed.

HELD: Yes. Even though petitioner is a project employee, as in the case of Maraguinot, Jr. v.
NLRC, the court held that a project employee or member of a work pool may acquire the status
of a regular employee when the following concur:

1. there is continuous rehiring of project employees even after thecessation of a project,

2. the tasks performed by the alleged “project employee” are vital, necessary and indispensable
to the usual business and trade of the employer.

Private respondent was employed as a data encoder performing duties, which are usually
necessary or desirable in the usual business or trade of the employer, continuously for a period
of more than 3 years. Being a regular employee, petitioner is entitled to security of tenure and
could only be dismissed for a just and authorized cause; low volume of work is not a valid cause
for dismissal under Art. 282 or 283. Having worked for more than 3 years, petitioner is also
entitled to service incentive leave benefits from 1989 until her actual reinstatement since such is
demandable after one year of service, whether continuous or broken.