Company-designated Physician’s Failure to Arrive at a Final Assessment of the Seafarer’s Fitness to Work

A work-related injury is deemed total and permanent by operation of law when the company-designated physician fails to arrive at a final assessment of the seafarer’s fitness to work within the 120/240-day treatment period following his repatriation.

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Extent of the Awards of Backwages and Separation Pay

The workers of the Continuous Galvanizing Line department of the Philippine Steel Coating Corp. asserted that the awards of backwages and separation pay should have included the period after the closure of the said department until the closure of Philippine Steel Coating Corporation’s entire business. Does this assertion have merit?

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