Every labor dispute is a David and Goliath battle as it involves two opposing parties: the worker on one side and the management on the other, for monetary claims for disability and death benefits, illegal dismissal as well as unpaid or underpayment of salaries and wages.
Companies usually utilize the phrase “ benefits even beyond the claims they are actually entitled ” to misleadingly describe the claims in order to sanitize the problematic legal battle for seafarer’s compensation.
Valid claims, employers argue, necessarily must follow what the POEA contract dictates: a contract that contains terms and conditions formulated more favorable to his employer and is littered with ambiguous provisions, generalizations, technicalities that he does not understand.
Under the 1996 POEA contract, for disability or death to be compensable, it was sufficient that the seafarer suffered injury or illness during the term of his employment. The cause of illness or death is immaterial.
However, through the lobbying of the principals and their manning agencies, the restrictive clause “work-related” was added under Section 20 (B) of the 2000 POEA SEC to limit their liabilities. The 2000 POEA SEC defined “work-related injury” as “injury(ies) resulting in disability or death arising out of and in the course of employment” and “work-related illness” as “any sickness resulting to disability or death as a result of an occupational disease listed under Section 32-A of the contract”.
Two elements must concur for an injury or illness to be compensable. First, that the injury or illness must be work-related; and second, that the work-related injury or illness must have existed during the term of the seafarer’s employment contract. The first requirement appeared in the 2000 and 2010 POEA SEC but is absent in the 1996 version.
Through such restrictive provisions of the POEA contract, claims for disability compensation became a legal battleground, especially in instances when seafarers do not receive full compensation. Such emergence of cases is attributable to the fact that the seafarer’s employer does not hesitate to harness its immense resources to limit its liability.
In reality, the grading system assessment under the POEA Contract is not reflective of the benefits that should be given to the seafarer. There are medical conditions that are classified as partial disability (between Grade 2 to 14) but in essence should have been considered as total permanent (Grade 1).
Employers will never hire a seafarer who suffered complete loss of the sense of hearing on both ears (Grade 3), loss of speech due to injury to the vocal cord (Grade 9), total loss of a leg or amputation at or above the knee (Grade 3), paralysis of one upper extremity (Grade3) , or loss of one foot at ankle joint or above (Grade 6), loss of ten fingers of both hands (Grade 3) or amputation between wrist and elbow joint (Grade 5), or total blindness of one eye and fifty percent (50%) loss of vision of the other eye will never be employed due to visual impairments. (Grade 5).
Fit-To Work certifications are given even to seafarers who are still not cured or in essence can no longer be employed such as those who suffered from heart attacks, aneurism or stroke.
From the business point of view, it will be risky for the employers to let the seafarer be re-employed since the harsh working environment might only aggravate his fragile condition and in the end expose the company to more serious insurance liabilities.
Thus, Supreme Court’s consistently ruled that “it is not the injury which is compensated, but rather it is the incapacity to work resulting in the impairment of one’s earning capacity. Disability need not render the seafarer absolutely helpless or feeble to be compensable; it means disablement of an employee to earn wages in the same kind of work, or work of similar nature that [he] was trained for or accustomed to perform, or any kind of work which a person of [his] mentality and attainment could do. (Valenzona vs. Fair Shipping Corporation, 659 SCRA 642)
In cases of seafarers with medical conditions, some incur huge debts to sustain their medication while others die before the decision by the Supreme Court is released forcing the seafarers into accepting an ex-gratia, miniscule amount Companies have the legal remedies to prolong the case, but one cannot reclaim the life of the deceased claimant.
Unless their definition of “valid claims” is changed, through the deletion of the “work-related” clause, and through the reversion to the old 1996 POEA Contract , the denials of seafarers’ claims will continue.
The compensation scheme should be less restrictive and more realistic, Otherwise, their only recourse is to seek legal assistance from lawyers of their own choosing. Conversely speaking, give the seafarers what they should receive, and employers will not be hounded by legal cases.
(Atty. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, email info@sapalovelez.com, or call 09175025808 or 09088665786)
