What the paper covered
Classified against the eight parts of the Supreme Court’s syllabus, the twenty questions fell like this.
The paper leaned earlier in the syllabus than recent years have. A quarter of it went to how the employment relationship is formed and classified — probationary status, contracting, the contractor label — before reaching dismissal at all. Recruitment and placement, which produced two questions in each of 2023 and 2024, drew none.
Question by question
Each row gives the doctrine the question turns on and the governing provision. It does not give the answer — working that out is the exercise.
Part III — Employment relationship
| # | What it tests | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Probationary employment — whether the six-month period may be extended by agreement, and dismissal for failing the standards during the extension. Art. 296 [281] | The six-month probationary period |
| 2 | Legitimate contracting under D.O. 174 — whether a principal answers for the money claims of a registered contractor’s workers. Arts. 106–109 | Labor-only and legitimate contracting |
| 3 | An independent contractor agreement against the reality of control — the four-fold test applied to a delivery rider paid a service fee. Art. 295 [280] | The four-fold test · Employee vs independent contractor |
| 4 | Probationary employment — the effect of failing to communicate the standards for regularisation at engagement, and the exception for a self-descriptive managerial role. Art. 296 [281] | When standards are not given at hiring |
| 9 | Post-employment restraints — whether perpetual confidentiality and non-compete clauses survive a public policy challenge. Civil Code Art. 1306 | NDAs, confidentiality and trade secrets |
Part IV — Labor standards
| # | What it tests | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Coverage and exclusions — holiday pay and service incentive leave for a home-based worker paid by output whose hours are not monitored. Arts. 82, 94, 95 | Field personnel and the exemption · Work-from-home laws |
| 7 | Wage distortion — whether an employer’s own revision of its salary scale, rather than a wage order, triggers a duty to restore differentials. Art. 124 | Not yet covered on this site |
| 8 | Non-diminution of benefits against management prerogative — withdrawal of a long-standing non-monetary workplace practice. Art. 100 | Diminution of benefits · Management prerogative |
| 10 | Sexual harassment — the gap in reach between RA 7877, which needs authority, influence or moral ascendancy, and RA 11313, which reaches peer conduct and a hostile environment. RA 7877; RA 11313 | RA 7877 and the Safe Spaces Act |
Part V — Labor relations
| # | What it tests | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Certification election — which employees count as confidential employees excluded from the bargaining unit, and on what test. Art. 255 [245] | Not yet covered on this site |
| 12 | Union security clause — whether expulsion from the union while an internal appeal is pending obliges the employer to dismiss, and which body hears an intra-union dispute. Arts. 259 [248](e), 232 [226] | Not yet covered on this site |
| 18 | Check-off — non-remittance of union dues as a possible unfair labor practice, and whether that places the case with the Labor Arbiter rather than the DOLE regional office. Arts. 250 [241](o), 224 [217] | The Labor Arbiter (jurisdiction only) |
Part VI — Suspension and termination
| # | What it tests | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Cessation of operations and the transfer of leased premises — whether an incoming occupant must absorb the outgoing employer’s workforce. Art. 298 [283] | Not yet covered on this site |
| 13 | Preventive suspension — whether the serious and imminent threat standard was met, and the thirty-day limit. Book V IRR, Rule XXIII | Preventive suspension |
| 14 | Authorised cause — redundancy created by adopting AI tools, the criteria for choosing who goes, and notice to both the employee and DOLE. Art. 298 [283] | AI-driven redundancy · Redundancy |
| 15 | Backwages — how far forward they run where the employee would have reached retirement age during the litigation. Arts. 294 [279], 302 [287] | Backwages calculation · Retirement pay |
Part VII — Social legislation
| # | What it tests | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Employees’ compensation — whether recovering from the State Insurance Fund forecloses a separate Civil Code action for damages against the employer. Art. 179 [173] | Not yet covered on this site |
| 17 | Seafarer disability — the 120/240-day rule and the effect of a late final assessment by the company-designated physician. POEA-SEC Sec. 20(A) | Not yet covered on this site |
Part VIII — Labor adjudication
| # | What it tests | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | Jurisdiction — whether a claim over a car plan benefit after termination has a reasonable causal connection to the employment relationship, or belongs to the regular courts. Art. 224 [217] | The Labor Arbiter (the causal connection test is not yet covered) |
| 20 | Reinstatement pending appeal — whether wages that accrued under an immediately executory reinstatement order survive a reversal by the Commission. Art. 229 [223] | Reinstatement after illegal dismissal |
Three things the 2026 paper tells you
Seafarer disability is the most reliable repeat on the exam
It was asked in 2022, in 2023, in 2024 and again in 2026 — the only doctrine with that record. If you study one thing in social legislation, make it the 120/240-day rule and the third-doctor referral.
Jurisdiction came back
Three questions — 12, 18 and 19 — turn on which body hears the case rather than on the substantive right. Papers from 2017 to 2019 were heavy on jurisdiction and procedure before the format changed, and the assumption since has been that the single-issue format squeezed it out. This year says otherwise.
The promise about contemporary matters was kept
The 2026 Bar Chairperson said the paper would reach contemporary and technology-related matters, and three questions did: redundancy caused by adopting AI tools, a home-based developer paid by output, and a delivery rider engaged under an independent contractor agreement. None of this is new law. They are old doctrines — Article 298, Article 82, the control test — applied to how people actually work now, which is a useful thing to notice about how the examiners think.
What this site does not yet explain
Of the twenty questions, this site already carries a full explanation of the doctrine behind twelve, and a partial one behind two more. Six have nothing yet. Rather than paper over that, here is the list, and each is being written.
- Wage distortion under Article 124, and the limits of the duty to restore differentials
- Confidential employees and who is excluded from the bargaining unit at a certification election
- Union security clauses, expulsion from the union, and where an intra-union dispute is heard
- Change of business ownership and whether an incoming employer must absorb the workforce
- Employees’ compensation and the choice between the State Insurance Fund and a Civil Code action
- Seafarer disability claims — the 120/240-day rule and the third-doctor referral
Method
Sources
This page is a study aid, not legal advice, and it is not affiliated with the Supreme Court or with any review centre. Published 10 September 2026.