Seasonal Staff's Fixed-Term Contract Ended and They Now Claim Illegal Dismissal: An Employer's Response Order

The first days after the claim: freeze the records and stop every "corrective" move

Step one is preservation, not explanation. Whether the worker complained to a supervisor, messaged HR, sent a lawyer's letter or you received a labour department conciliation notice, the opening moves are the same:

1. Export and back up the worker's complete file as it stands: the job advertisement or role description, interview notes, the signed contract, onboarding forms, timesheets, shift schedules, payslips, any evaluations, and any notice given before the end date. Keep original creation and modification timestamps. Do not tidy the file into a "clean version".
2. Stop all after-the-fact fixes. The most common mistake is asking the worker to "re-sign a clearer fixed-term contract", adjusting dates, or drafting a fresh role description to prove the post was seasonal. In labour arbitration these moves read as guilt, and document timestamps get checked.
3. Say one sentence to the worker: the company has received the claim and will reply in writing by a stated date. No arguing, no threats, no "go ahead and sue", and no private offers of "a little something to settle". Move every exchange to writing.
4. Check the rest of the same intake batch. Peak-season hiring often brings in dozens at once; one claim usually pulls in others. Find out whether the batch signed the same contract version and received the same end-of-term handling. That decides whether you are facing one case or a group.
5. Have a lawyer or licensed HR consultant read the contract before you reply.

None of this costs money, but it decides whether you have anything in hand later. As for whether this "counts as illegal dismissal", do not decide yet; the next section gives the test.

Does your contract hold up? What each temporary-hire classification is tested on

Writing "fixed-term" on a contract does not make it fixed-term in law. The arbiter looks at substance: was the term agreed knowingly and voluntarily by both sides on roughly equal footing, was the term dictated by the nature of the work, and was the contract used to avoid regularisation. Peak-season hires usually fall into one of three classifications, each with its own checkpoints:

• Fixed-term employment: did the worker know the term at signing and accept it freely; were the parties on more or less equal terms; was the end date fixed at signing. If the worker was asked to sign only after starting, or the term has been extended "just once more" repeatedly, this classification is fragile.
• Seasonal employment: does the job itself exist only in a particular season, such as a pre-Christmas packing line or a year-end pop-up store. If the same work is done in the off-season by fewer people, it looks like a temporary top-up of a regular role rather than a seasonal post.
• Project employment: does the contract name a specific project; are its start and end determined by objective progress; was the project completion reported to the labour department as required. "Year-end peak" is not by itself a project.

One dimension gets overlooked: is this person doing work that is usual and necessary to your business? If they did exactly what your regular staff do, on the same line, under the same evaluation, then whatever the contract is called, "non-renewal" is easier to characterise as disguised dismissal. Conversely, if the post genuinely appears only in season, the contract is clear, the end was confirmed in writing, and prior years' hires were handled the same way, your position is far stronger. What each failed classification costs is broken down in the five typical hiring failures; it is not repeated here.

How the worker's claim is usually built: the common grounds and two employer misconceptions

A regularisation claim is rarely built on "how long I worked". It is built on "this contract was a device to avoid regularisation". You need to understand where the worker's counsel or the conciliator will cut in:

• Term and probation blended: the contract says fixed-term, but internally the company ran evaluations and a "confirmation" review, which reads as the company itself treating the worker as regular-track.
• Repeated renewals: the same person brought back for several peak seasons, or a contract "renewed for one more term" after expiry. The longer the chain, the weaker the fixed-term nature.
• Inconsistent end-of-term handling: within one batch, some were kept and regularised while others were "not renewed", and the difference came down to a supervisor's subjective rating. That turns "expiry" into selective dismissal.
• No written expiry notice or settlement: nothing in writing on the final day and final pay dragging on make "expiry" look like "sudden stoppage".

Two misconceptions employers should correct in themselves first:

1. "They did not reach the statutory regularisation threshold, so they cannot be regular." That threshold belongs to probationary employment. The issue in a fixed-term dispute is whether the contract itself is valid; the two are not on the same track. See Philippine probationary period rules for the logic.
2. "Expiry is not dismissal, so no procedure is needed." True while the contract stands. Once it is struck down, the earlier "expiry" is re-read as a dismissal with no cause and no process, and reinstatement and money claims arrive together. See how the two categories of termination decide what is owed.

So what you actually have to prove is that the contract was genuine, voluntary and dictated by the work when it was signed, not that the worker "did not stay long enough".

The conciliation day: what to bring, what you can concede, what not to sign

Conciliation is not a trial; its purpose is to find out, before arbitration, whether both sides can accept a close. Most claims of this type first enter the labour department's single-entry conciliation mechanism (SEnA), and the company receives a notice to attend. The essentials:

• Send someone with authority, or give the attending HR officer a clearly defined mandate. The thing conciliators tolerate least is a company representative who must "check with head office" on every point; it usually ends the conciliation and pushes the case onward.
• Bring originals and a clean timeline: contract, job ad, timesheets, payslips, expiry notice, final-pay records, in date order. The worker's side of preparation is laid out in how an employee prepares for the conciliation day; knowing what they will bring tells you what you need to answer.
• Listen first, then propose. Establish whether the worker actually wants reinstatement, regular status or money. Many claims boil down to an unsettled final pay or peak-season overtime that was short-paid, and those can be closed on the day without arbitration.
• What you can concede: amounts genuinely missed in the settlement, a proper certificate of employment and reference, a written priority-rehire commitment for next season. What not to concede lightly: an admission that "this was not a real fixed-term contract" or that "the company was at fault". Settlement does not require an admission.

If you settle, three points on the agreement: have the conciliator or both counsel draft it, state the amount and payment method precisely, and make sure any waiver (quitclaim) the worker signs is voluntary, supported by reasonable consideration and explained, or it may be set aside later. A quitclaim bought with an unreasonably small sum is routinely disregarded in arbitration. How internal grievance handling connects to conciliation is in handling employee complaints.

If conciliation fails and it goes to arbitration: the burden is yours, so prepare this and avoid that

In labour arbitration the employer bears the burden of proving a termination lawful, and likewise of proving a fixed-term contract genuine. You cannot wait for the other side to produce evidence; you must put forward a complete, internally consistent documentary set. Following the logic of what documents NLRC arbitration requires, a fixed-term dispute needs at least:

1. The role description and advertisement from recruitment, showing the post was advertised with a term from the start.
2. The signed contract, plus records showing signature happened before or on the first day.
3. Prior years' handling of the same posts: same season, same contract, same end-of-term treatment. Consistency is among your strongest evidence.
4. The written reminder before expiry, the confirmation on the day, and the final pay and clearance records.
5. For project employment, the completion report filed with the labour department at the time.

What you must not do at this stage:

• Retaliate: pressuring batch-mates still on the payroll, withholding certificates of employment, or "making calls" in the industry. Each becomes a fresh claim, harder to defend than the original.
• Alter or create records. Timestamps, formatting discrepancies between printouts and contradictions among witnesses are things arbiters see constantly.
• Fail to appear. Non-appearance does not pause the case; it lets the worker's version stand unchallenged. Foreign employers have additional standing and representation questions covered elsewhere.

How long the process runs and how the cost is structured is in the full timeline from SEnA to NLRC. One point to stress: once you are in arbitration, every statement by a company representative is evidence, so route all external communication through counsel.

Preventing a repeat next peak season, and what Yixing can do

The root of these disputes is almost always the moment of hiring, not the day of expiry. If you held your position this year, turn the following into process for next year; if you did not, do it with more urgency:

1. Choose the lawful structure first: a genuinely seasonal post gets a seasonal contract; a temporary top-up of regular work goes either through a compliant manpower agency or through honest probationary hiring with a real decision at the end. The four alternatives and where each fits are compared in the lawful alternatives section.
2. State the term and the seasonal reason in the job ad itself, sign before day one, fix the end date, and leave no "renewable" opening.
3. One batch, one treatment: uniform written expiry notice, uniform settlement, uniform certificates. If you want to keep someone, rehire through the formal process before expiry rather than "extending".
4. Audit peak-season wages and overtime separately: temporary staff are covered by minimum wage and overtime rules, and if a new wage order takes effect mid-season, the differential claim arrives together with the regularisation claim. See what to do when a wage increase was not applied.
5. Keep the year-end party safe: a temporary worker injured at the company Christmas party raises liability questions that differ from regular staff. See employer liability for party incidents.

What Yixing can do. Yixing is a private consultancy registered in the Philippines, holding the relevant Bureau of Immigration and labour department accreditations, with no affiliation to any government agency, and it does not represent parties in labour litigation. What we do: before you reply to the worker, run a compliance check on the contract, hiring records and prior-year handling and list which points hold and which need counsel; help assemble the timeline and documents before conciliation; and rebuild next season's staffing structure and contract templates on a compliant basis. → Employment compliance review and peak-season staffing design

Once more: consult a licensed attorney for your specific case. This article is not legal advice.