What is employment relationship?

- the legal and social relationship between an employee and the employer.

When is an employment relationship considered to be present?

 An employee is defined as a person who performs services for an employer in which either or
both mental and physical efforts are used and who receives compensation for such services,
where there is an employer-employee relationship.
- relationship is usually defined by a contract or agreement with the terms and conditions of the
employment
 Why is a contract or an agreement important?
- to protect the interest of both parties

A. The Fourfold Test

1. The selection and engagement of the employee;

2. The payment of wages;

3. The power of dismissal;

4. The power to control the employee’s conduct

According to Gerardo Francisco, if substantial evidence is presented to show that a person selects and
engages another for employment, pays his/her wages, has the power to dismiss him/her and/or controls
his/her conduct, then the courts will consider such person as his/her employer.

B. The Right-of-Control test

The power to control the employee’s conduct or the right-of-control test is “where the person for whom
the services are performed reserves a right to control not only the end to be achieved, but also the
means to be used in reaching such end generally assumes primacy in the overall consideration of
whether or not an employer-employee relationship exists between the parties.

If the power to control the employee’s conduct is absent, no employment relationship may be
considered as existing between the parties. The power to control the employee’s conduct is deemed to
be such an important factor that the other requisites (selection and engagement of employee, payment
of wages and power of dismissal) may even be disregarded.

In the summary, the fourfold test and the right-of-control test are used to determine the existence of an
employer-employee relationship. The power to control the employee’s conduct being the most
important factor, and if it is absent, no employment relationship may be considered to exist.