Field Personnel: Meaning

Article 82 decides who is covered by Title I of Book Three of the Labor Code, the part on hours of work, weekly rest periods, holidays, service incentive leave and service charges (Articles 82 to 96). It lists field personnel among those excluded and defines the term:

The implementing rules (Book III, Rule I, Section 2(f), 1989 text) repeat the same two conditions for "non-agricultural field personnel".

Both must be true:

1. The employee regularly works away from the office. Working outside now and then is not enough.
2. The actual hours of work in the field cannot be determined with reasonable certainty. If the employer sets the hours, tracks them or supervises the work closely, this part may not be met.

In Auto Bus Transport Systems v. Bautista (2005), a bus driver-conductor paid on commission claimed service incentive leave. The bus company said he was excluded. The Supreme Court disagreed. Inspectors boarded the buses along the routes, each bus had a weekly shop day, and dispatchers made sure the buses left and arrived at set times. The driver was under constant supervision, so he was not field personnel and was entitled to the leave.

The Court also said that employees paid on task, contract or purely commission basis are excluded from service incentive leave only if they are field personnel. The way of paying the worker does not decide it.

As a rule, the rules of Title I of Book Three, which include:

• the eight-hour day and overtime pay;
• the night shift differential;
• weekly rest periods and holiday pay;
• service incentive leave.

A contract, company policy or collective agreement may still grant these benefits. Other parts of the Labor Code, such as the rules on wages, security of tenure and dismissal, are not part of this exclusion.

Made-up illustration: Lito is a field sales agent. He visits clients across the province, sets his own route, and nobody checks his hours outside the office. He fits the definition of field personnel. Mylene is also a sales agent, but she must log in through an app at each client visit, follow a fixed daily route and report back to the office at five in the afternoon. Because her hours can be determined with reasonable certainty, she may not be field personnel, and the hours-of-work rules may apply to her. Each case depends on the facts.

Field personnel are one of several groups excluded by Article 82. Another is the managerial employee. See also are managers and field workers paid overtime?