6/5/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly B. COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS FOR INJURY OR ILLNESS The liabilities of the employer when the seafarer suffers work-related injury or illness during the term of his contract are as follows: 1. x x x 2. x x x 3. Upon sign-off from the vessel for medical treatment, the seafarer is entitled to sickness allowance equivalent to his basic wage until he is declared fit to work or the degree of permanent disability has been assessed by the company-designated physician but in no case shall this period exceed one hundred twenty (120) days. For this purpose, the seafarer shall submit himself to a post-employment medical examination by a company-designated physician within three working days upon his return except when he is physically incapacitated to do so, in which case, a written notice to the agency within the same period is deemed as compliance. Failure of the seafarer to comply with the mandatory reporting requirement shall result in his forfeiture of the right to claim the above benefits. If a doctor appointed by the seafarer disagrees with the assessment, a third doctor may be agreed jointly between the Employer and the seafarer. The third doctor's decision shall be final and binding on both parties. Clearly, however, in claiming disability benefits, both the 1996 and 2000 POEA-SEC requires the injury or illness of the seafarer to be work-related. Because of the conflicting factual findings of the labor tribunals and the appellate court on petitioner's actual medical condition after his last employment contract, we reiterate the parameter of work-related illness in resolving petitioner's claim for disability benefits.[14] Under Section 20 (B) (3) of the 1996 POEA-SEC, for the employer to be liable: (1) the injury or illness must occur during the term of contract, disputably presumed to be work-related; (2) the injury or illness is work-related; and (3) the work-related injury or illness is determined in a mandatory post employment medical examination by a company designated physician within three (3) working days of the seafarer's return. Claiming entitlement to benefits under the law, petitioner must ' establish his right thereto by substantial evidence.[15] While petitioner has asserted that his disability is work-related and occurred during the term of his contract, what jumps out of the different factual findings of all three labor tribunals, the Labor Arbiter, the NLRC and the Court of Appeals, is that petitioner did not undergo a post employment medical examination as required in Section 20 of both elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/60102 9/15