Seafarer’s incapacity to work: Defocusing the injury/illness

IS Grade 1 disability assessment always necessary for a seafarer to be considered totally and permanently disabled?

If a seafarer suffers a work-related illness/ injury and is declared unfit to work and assessed with Grade 1 disability, the seafarer is evidently suffering from a total and permanent disability, thus, entitled to corresponding benefits under the POEA Standard Terms and Conditions Governing the Overseas Employment of Filipino Seafarers On Board Ocean-Going Vessels (“POEA Standard Terms and Conditions”) or applicable collective bargaining agreement.

In case like the one above, the rules regarding the benefits of the seafarer are clear cut and unquestionable. However, there are number of cases when the disabled seafarer is assessed with disability lower than Grade 1, or temporary partial disability i.e., Grade 2 to14 under Section 32 of POEA Standard Terms and Conditions.

Notwithstanding the fact that the seafarer remains unfit to perform similar work, the principal and manning agency deny to grant the seafarer with total and permanent disability benefits on the defense that the benefits must be those that corresponds to the given disability grading. What happened, then, to the seafarer who cannot anymore be gainfully employed in the same way that he was accustomed before the occurrence of his disability?

In a number of cases, the Supreme Court had emphasized that in disability compensation, what is compensated is the incapacity to work, not the injury or illness.

In one case, the seafarer was diagnosed with lumbar spine illness and assessed by the company-designated physician with disability Grade 8, but remains unfit to work as a seafarer (pump man). The Supreme Court ruled that, under the legal contemplation, the seafarer is totally and permanently disabled stressing that if the injuries or disabilities with a disability grading from 2 to 14, hence, partial and permanent, would incapacitate a seafarer from performing his usual sea duties for a period of more than 120 or 240 days, depending on the need for further medical treatment, then he is, under legal contemplation, totally and permanently disabled (Krestel Shipping Co., Inc., et al. vs. Munar, G.R. No.  198501; January 30, 2013).

The same principle was applied in the case of Alpha Ship Management Corporation, et al. vs. Calo (G.R. No. 192034, January 13, 2014), under which the Supreme Court deemed the seafarer totally and permanently disabled due to the fact that he was under medical treatment and unable to engage in gainful employment for more than 240 days.

In sum, regardless of the disability grading assessment, so long as the seafarer’s injury or illness prevents him from engaging in gainful employment for more than 120 or 240 days, the seafarer becomes entitled to total and permanent disability benefits. As the Supreme Court consistently emphasized, disability should be analyzed more on the loss or impairment of the earning capacity, and not much on its medical significance.