4/14/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly go by in silence, he waives it. It becomes a mere concession or act of grace of the employer.[32] With Erispe's failure to avail of his vacation leave, he is deemed to have waived entitlement to the unavailed vacation leave benefits from his previous contracts. The CA, therefore, erred in sustaining its award by the NLRC. However, in view of the finding of illegal dismissal, Erispe is entitled to the monetary equivalent of his vacation leave benefits as to the unexpired portion of his contract. The employer is obliged to pay an illegally dismissed employee or worker the whole amount of the salaries or wages, plus all other benefits and bonuses and general increases, to which he would have been normally entitled had he not been illegal1y terminated and had not stopped working.[33] Thus, Erispe must be awarded his salaries corresponding to the unexpired portion of his employment contract, or equivalent to 7.36 months[34] as found by the LA. This includes all his corresponding monthly vacation leave pay which is expressly provided in the employment contracts, which is three days per month. As regards the propriety to refund Erispe's medical expenses, We rule in the negative. It is basic that the employment of seafarers and its incidents are governed by the contracts they sign every time they are hired or rehired. These contracts have the force of law between the parties as long as their stipulations are not contrary to law, morals, public order or public policy. Every seaman and the vessel owner (directly or represented by a local manning agency) are required to execute the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Standard Employment Contract (POEA-SEC) as a condition sine qua non to the seafarer's deployment for overseas work. While the relationship between seafarers and their empl oyers are governed by their mutual agreements, "the POEA rules and regulations require that the POEA-SEC, which contains the standard terms and conditions of the seafarers' employment in foreign ocean-going vessels, be integrated in every seafarer's contract."[35] In this case, Section 20-B of the 2000 POEA-SEC, the governing POEA-SEC at the time Erispe was employed in 2007 although extended multiple times until his disembarkation on January 24, 2010, is applicable. It provides: SECTION 20. COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS xxxx 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 areas follows: 1. The employer shall continue to pay the seafarer his wages during the time he is on board the vessel; 2. If the injury or illness requires medical and/or dental treatment in a foreign port, the employer shall be liable for the full cost of such medical, serious dental, surgical and hospital treatment as well as board and lodging https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66175 5/10