1/4/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly 3. In addition to the above obligation of the employer to provide medical attention, the seafarer shall also receive sickness allowance from his employer in an amount equivalent to his basic wage computed from the time he signed off until he is declared fit to work or the degree of disability has been assessed by the company-designated physician. The period within which the seafarer shall be entitled to his sickness allowance shall not exceed 120 days. Payment of the sickness allowance shall be made on a regular basis, but not less than once a month. xxxx For this purpose, the seafarer shall submit himself to a postemployment 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. In the course of the treatment, the seafarer shall also report regularly to the companydesignated physician specifically on the dates as prescribed by the company-designated physician and agreed to by the seafarer. 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. From the foregoing, after medical repatriation, the company-designated physician must assess the seafarer's fitness to work or the degree of his disability. After this, the seafarer may choose his own doctor to dispute the findings of the company-designated physician, and if there is conflict, the matter is referred to a third doctor, whose findings shall be binding on the parties. Jurisprudence has elaborated on the requirements for the validity and procedure for disputing the assessment of the company-designated physician. For the companydesignated physician's assessment to be considered valid, it must be timely made and must state the fitness or degree of disability of the seafarer.[29] Once the company-designated physician has issued the valid assessment, the seafarer may dispute it by referring to his own doctor, thus: x x x resort to a second opinion must be done after the assessment by the company-designated physician precisely to dispute the said assessment. Such assessment from the company-designated physician, to https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/65636 5/10