Leptospitoris in the seafaring industry

Because of their nature of work, seafarers are bound to visit many ports in different parts of the world and are thus exposed to various pandemic and epidemic diseases

  One of the infections that a seafarer may suffer while on board the vessel  is leptospirosis. It  is an infection caused by corkscrew-shaped bacteria called Leptospira.

Leptospiral infection in humans causes a range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Leptospirosis is a biphasic disease that begins suddenly with fever accompanied by chills, intense headache, severe myalgia (muscle ache), abdominal pain, conjunctival suffusion (red eye), and occasionally a skin rash. The symptoms appear after an incubation period of 7–12 days. 

It is often transmitted by animal urine or by water or soil containing animal urine coming into contact with breaks in the skin, eyes, mouth, or nose. It is contagious as long as the urine is still moist. Rats, mice, and moles are important primary hosts but a wide range of other mammals including dogs, deer, rabbits, cows, sheep,  and certain marine mammals carry and transmit the disease as secondary hosts. 

            The classic form of severe leptospirosis is known as Weil's disease, which is characterized by liver damage (causing jaundice), kidney failure, and bleeding. Additionally, the heart and brain can be affected, meningitis of the outer layer of the brain, encephalitis of brain tissue with same signs and symptoms; and lung affected as the most serious and life-threatening of all leptospirosis complications. The infection is often incorrectly diagnosed due to the nonspecific symptoms. Other severe manifestations include extreme fatigue, hearing loss, respiratory distress, and azotemia.

For a sick  seafarer to be entitled to medical benefits under the  POEA-Standard Employment Contract (SEC),   he must have suffered work related illness which is defined as any sickness resulting to disability or death as a result of one of the  twenty-four (24) occupational diseases listed under Section 32-A of the said contract. .

It is also  not sufficient to simply establish that the seafarer's illness or injury has rendered him permanently or partially disabled; it must also be shown that there is a causal connection between the seafarer's illness or injury and the work for which he had been contracted .

Leptospiros as one of the listed  infectious disease that a seafarer may suffer during the effectivity of his contract  is  a disease resulting from the presence and activity of pathogenic microbial agents in the body.Infectious diseases are recognized as an occupational hazard in seafaring and are closely connected to the conditions of working and living onboard.

 It is   a well-known fact that seafaring is one of the most hazardous occupations, in regards to personal health and safety concerns of seafarers. Apart from accidents, seafarers are prone to certain serious diseases and health hazards due to the nature of onboard work, change in climatic conditions, type of cargo carried, working hours, materials being handled, epidemic and endemic diseases, and  personal habits.

Since one of the requirement for an illness to be compensable is that the seafarer suffered said illness during the effectivity of the POEA contract, it is imperative that his condition or symptoms  must be documented while he is on board the vessel, such as headaches, fever, coughs,  sore throat. chills, nausea, and shivering, skin rashes.  Otherwise, his claim for disability benefits might be denied due to failure to prove that said illness occurred while his contract is still in force.

(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)

Extension of the seafarer's contract

Seafarers are considered contractual employees. Their employment is governed by the Standard Employment Contract (SEC) they sign  and  duly approved by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) every time they are rehired and their employment is terminated when the contract expires.

Their employment is contractually fixed for a certain period of time. For the seafarers mental and physical health, they need a break after “long periods away from home, limited communication and consistently high work loads.”

As a general rule, the period of employment shall be for a period mutually agreed upon by the seafarer and the employer but not to exceed 12 months. The Maritime Labor Convention 0f 2006 (MLC2006)  prescribes that the seafarer has the right to be repatriated within a contract period of less than 12 months.

The commencement of the contract is from the time when the contracted seafarer actually departs from Philippine, either airport or seaport, for employment. It shall cease when the seafarer completes his period of contractual service aboard the ship, signs-off from the ship and arrives at the point of hire. 

The POEA contract requires the seafarer to arrive at the point of hire as it signifies the completion of the employment contract, and not merely its expiration.

Similarly, a seafarer’s employment contract is terminated even before the contract expires as soon as he arrives at the point of hire and signs off for medical reasons, due to shipwreck, voluntary resignation or for other just causes.

 There are instances that the employment is not terminated as set in  the contract but becomes a subject of extension.

Usually extension of contract period are not encouraged due to factors such as fatigue, complacency and other health reasons and same may not be accepted if relief is already lined up.  Extension request must always be  documented duly signed.

Any extension of the contract can be voluntary or compulsory

1. Voluntary if the extension is with the  mutual consent of both parties. 

2.  Compulsory   until the ship’s arrival at a convenient port and/ or    after arrival of the replacement crew provided that, in any case, the continuance of such service shall not exceed three months.

In the absence of a new document or POEA contract, as long as the seafarer has not yet arrived at the point of hire,  it is legally presumed that the original contract is still subsisting. If a seafarer keeps working for the same employer for a period longer than the agreed period,  any subsequent working period that exceeds this period of time is to be considered  extension of the  contract.

The seafarer is entitled to be paid his wages and other benefits  after the expiration of his contract and during the extended period until the vessel's arrival at a convenient port.  The obligations and liabilities of the local agency and its foreign principal do not end upon the expiration of the contracted period as they were duty bound to repatriate the seaman to the point of hire to effectively terminate the contract of employment. (Interorient Maritime Enterprises, Inc. v. NLRC,330 Phil. 493)

If he suffers from an illness or accident or he dies during the extended period, the same benefits from his original contract will be applicable.

However, there was no implied renewal of contract if the seafarer was allowed to stay after the termination of his contract. The extension was due to the fact that the ship was still at sea and the  late disembarkation was not without valid reason. The company could not have disembarked the seafarer on the date of the termination of his employment contract, because the vessel was still in the middle of the sea (Unica vs. Anscor Swire Ship Management Corporation ;  G.R. No. 184318; February 12, 2014)

(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)