Ipinag-utos ng Supreme Court (SC) o Mataas na Hukuman na bayaran ng isang shipping management company ang na-injure nitong Pilipinong empleyado—isang seaman—ng $90,000 o katumbas ng PHP5 milyon.
Ang amount ay magsisilbing “permanent disability benefit” dahil sa pagkaka-injure ng seaman habang naglalaro ng basketball aboard the ship during his free time.
Ipinost ang desisyon sa Supreme Court website nitong November 9, 2023.
Sa 21-page decision na pirmado ni Associate Justice Samuel H. Gaerlan, kinatigan ng SC ang petition na isinumite ng seafarer (a.k.a. seaman) na si Rosell R. Arguilles mula sa naunang desisyon ng National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) noong January 24, 2020.
Sa naunang NLRC decision, pinaboran ang former employer ni Arguilles, ang Wilhelmsen Smith Bell Manning, Inc. at executives nito.
December 26, 2016, nagkaroon siya ng injury sa kaliwang bukong-bukong habang naglalaro ng basketball sa barko.
Pinauwi sa Pilipinas si Arguilles at pinatingin sa company-designated physicians.
Na-diagnose si Arguilles ng “severely attenuated Achilles tendon consistent with high-grade partial tear.”
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Sumailalim siya ng surgery noong February 6, 2017, at nagkaroon ng 49 physical therapy sessions mula February 2017 hanggang June 2017 sa clinic na ni-refer ng kumpanya.
Ipinahinto ng kumpanya ang treatment ni Arguilles dahil ang kanyang “work-related injury was too severe to be resolved within 120 days.”
Kumunsulta si Arguilles sa isang independent physician na idineklara siyang “unfit for duty,” ayon sa SC website.
Nagsampa ng reklamo si Arguilles sa arbitration branch ng NLRC nang hindi siya inasikaso ng kumpanya matapos magsumite ng request for disability benefits.
Pinaboran ng Labor Arbiter si Arguilles at inutusan noon ang respondents na bayaran ang dati nilang empleyado ng $90,000 at PHP450,000 para sa moral and exemplary damages.
Subalit bumaligtad nga ang desisyon na inilabas ng NLRC in favor of the shipping management company.
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Nagsumite ng apela sa CA ang kumpanya, na pinaboran naman ng NLRC. Binaligtad nito ang unang desisyon na pabor kay Arguilles.
Pero si Arguilles ang pinaboran ng SC, at ginawang basehan ito: “Section 2, Rule IV of Department of Labor and Employment Order No. 130, series of 2013 provides that the terms and conditions of seafarers’ employment shall be governed by the POEA SEC.”
Ayon sa SC, batay sa Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Standard Employment Contract (POEA SEC), ang work-related injury ay “injury arising out of and in the course of employment.”
Batay rin dito, hindi kailangang ma-injure ng isang seafarer “while he or she is in actual performance of his or her duties.”
Nakasaad pa sa Section 2(A) of the POEA SEC na ang employment ng isang seafarer “shall be effective until his or her date of arrival at the point of hire, upon termination of his or her employment.”
Katwiran pa ng SC, “An employer is duty-bound to provide a seaworthy ship for the seafarer and take all reasonable precautions to prevent accident and injury to the crew, under Section 1(A)(4) of the POEA SEC.
“It is beyond cavil that petitioner’s injury was sustained while his employment contract was still in effect and while he was still on board M/V Toronto.
“Accordingly, he suffered his injury in the course of his employment. This squarely falls within the POEA SEC’s definition of a work-related injury."
May idinagdag sa desisyon na hindi lahat ng injuries na matatamo ng isang seafarer habang nasa barko ay “compensable, as employers were never intended to be insurers against all accidental injuries their employees might incur while in the course of employment...
"But only for such injuries arising from or growing out of the risks peculiar to the nature of work in the scope of the workmen’s employment or incidental to such employment, and accidents in which it is possible to trace the injury to some risk or hazard to which the employee is exposed in a special degree by reason of such employment.”