Sleep Deprivation and Leukemia

An employee was assigned at a pharmacy as a security guard. Years later, he was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, and less than a year thereafter, he passed away.

The Social Security Commission (SSC) granted the Social Security System (SSS) Temporary Total Disability (TTD) benefits, Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) benefits, and Death with Funeral Benefits to his beneficiaries. It, however, denied the claim for Employment Compensation (EC) death benefits on the ground that “there is no causal relationship between Acute Myelogenous Leukemia to [his] job as a security guard.”

His widow appealed the SSC decision, and her case went all the way to the Supreme Court. She basically argued that employment of her husband regularly required him to take either straight 12 or 24 hours of duty, with only a 24-hour rest period on the last day of each month. He was thus constantly sleep-deprived and his immune system became weak. Eventually, he succumbed to leukemia. She concluded that the risk of contracting acute myelogenous leukemia was increased by her husband’s work or working conditions.

The Court did not agree. In justifying the denial of her petition, it adopted, among others, the findings of the Court of Appeals.

Under the law, for the sickness and the resulting disability or death to be compensable, the sickness must be the result of a listed occupational disease. Otherwise, proof must be shown that the risk of contracting the disease is increased by the working conditions.

Leukemia is considered as an occupational disease if the nature of employment involved exposure to X-rays, ionizing particles of radium or other radioactive substances or other forms of radiant energy, or it is contracted by operating room personnel due to exposure to anesthetics.

In this case, other than the widow’s allegation that her husband suffered sleep deprivation due to his work schedule and which then weakened his immune system, she has not provided proof that, as a security guard, her husband was exposed to cancer-causing chemicals in the place/s where he was assigned.

Record shows that she has only presented a copy of a medical abstract and of her husband’s daily time records in an attempt to prove that his employment increased his chances of contracting leukemia.

However, the Court did not find anything in the documents that would help them infer or conclude that indeed, her husband’s risk of contracting leukemia increased by reason of his work conditions.

Further reading:

• Rosemarie Esmarialino v. Employees’ Compensation Commission, Social Security System (SSS) and Jimenez Protective and Security Agency, G.R. No. 192352. July 23, 2014.