Dear PAO,
I am currently working as an actress for a movie company. I have been with this company for a couple of years now, and have played several lead and supporting roles. Although my talent fee is generous, I really want to ask for a Christmas bonus or 13th month pay, and maybe even some overtime pay, since shoots tend to go well into the night.
Anyways, I asked my manager about this and he directed me to our head producer. That guy told me that I would not get any of the benefits I was demanding because, according to him, I was never an employee. He said I was an independent contractor. I could not accept that. I know that I am an employee of this movie company. I deserve the proper pay they owe me.
Xyndy-Mae
Dear Xyndy-Mae,
Unfortunately, you are mistaken. You are considered an independent contractor and not an employee entitled to 13th month pay and overtime pay.
Indeed, the Honorable Supreme Court, speaking through Honorable Associate Justice Rodil V. Zalameda, in the case of Carmela C. Tiangco vs. ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation (G.R. No. 200434, December 06, 2021), stated that a special talent, such as an actress like you, is considered an independent contractor, not an employee because of the peculiar and specialized nature of their work, which affords them independence on how they will perform their work. The high court reasoned that:
An independent contractor is one who carries on a distinct and independent business and undertakes to perform the job, work, or service on their own account and under their own responsibility according to their own manner and method, free from the control and direction of the principal in all matters connected with the performance of the work except as to the results thereof. Hence, while an independent contractor enjoys independence and freedom from the control and supervision of their principal, an employee is subject to the employer's power to control the means and methods by which the employee's work is to be performed and accomplished.xxx
The Court agrees with petitioner that she is not similarly situated with Sonza in terms of the roles she assumed under the Agreement and her length of stay with the network. However, despite the dissimilarities, there is one important element that petitioner and Sonza share - they both possessed unique skills, expertise, and talent, for which they were both engaged as ABS-CBN's exclusive talents. In Sonza, we ruled:
Independent contractors often present themselves to possess unique skills, expertise or talent to distinguish them from ordinary employees. The specific selection and hiring of Sonza, because of his unique skills, talent and celebrity status not possessed by ordinary employees, is a circumstance indicative, but not conclusive, of an independent contractual relationship. If Sonza did not possess such unique skills, talent and celebrity status, ABS-CBN would not have entered into the Agreement with Sonza but would have hired him through its personnel department just like any other employee.
Here, you are certainly a talent, someone paid for her unique expertise. More than that, the company has no control over your highly specialized and exclusive skills. As such, you cannot be considered an employee of the movie company that you have been working with for the past couple of years. You are an independent contractor who cannot compel the company to pay you 13th month pay or overtime pay.
We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice was based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.
Thank you for your continued trust and support.
