VII.

HEALTH SAFETY AND SOCIAL WELFARE BENEFITS Emergency Medical and Dental Services:

Book IV, Rule I – Medical and Dental Services Employees Hazardous Non-Hazardous
Graduate first-aider, and may be one of the workers in the
Coverage: 10 - 50 workplace AND who has immediate access to the first-aid
• All employers whether profit or non-profit, including Government or medicine prescribed in Section 3.
GOCC, which employ one or more workers. Full-time first aider IF a nurse is
51 – 200 Full-time registered nurse
• Bureau of Dental Health Services of DOH – in charge of the dental not available.
standard. 1. Full-time registered nurse
2. Part-time physician
201 – 300
First aid treatment – ADEQUATE, IMMEDIATE, and NECESSARY, medical 3. Part-time dentist
and dental attention or remedy given in case of injury or sudden illness 4. Emergency Clinic*
suffered by a worker during employment, irrespective of whether or not 1. Full-time nurse
during employment, irrespective of whether or not such injury or illness is 2. Full-time
work-connected, before more extensive medical or dental treatment can be physician
secured. It does not include continued treatment or follow-up for any injury or 3. Full-time dentist
illness. 4. Dental Clinic
1. Full-time nurse
and infirmary
2. Part-time physician
First Aider – any person trained and duly certified as qualified to administer OR Emergency
3. Part-time dentist
first aid by PNRC or any other organization accredited with the former. Exceeds 300 hospital one bed
capacity for
* The Physician and dentist shall
Medicines and Facilities: every 100
stay for at least 2 hours a day
• An employer shall keep in their workplace first-aid medicines, workers
equipment and facilities prescribed by DOLE 5 days from issuance
of regulation. The Physician and
• List may be revised anytime by the Bureau of Labor Standards, dentist shall stay for at
subject to approval of the Labor Secretary. least 8 hours a day

Emergency Hospital or dental clinic is not needed in the following situations:
• Urban Area – Where there is a hospital or dental clinic within 5
kilometers from the workplace OR which can be reach by a motor
vehicle in 25 mins.
• Rural Area – There are facilities readily for transporting a worker to
the hospital or clinic in case of emergency.
The employer must have a written contract with the hospital or dental
clinic for the use in the treatment of workers in case of emergency.
Assistance of employer - to provide all necessary assistance to ensure
adequate and immediate medical and dental assistance and treatment to an
injured or sick employee in case of emergency
Book IV, Rule II – Occupation Health and Safety
Coverage:
• All establishments, workplaces and other undertakings except:
o Those engaged in land, sea, and air transportation
(Provided: that their dry docks, garages, hangars,
maintenance and repair shops and offices, shall be
covered by this Rule)
o Residential places exclusively devoted to dwelling
purposes.
DOLE has jurisdiction to inspect all under the coverage, but chartered cities
may be allowed to assume responsibility for technical safety inspection upon
compliance with such standards and guidelines.
Health and safety standards – is set by the Secretary of Dole through rules
and regulations issued by him
Administration of safety and health laws
• DOLE is solely responsible for the administration and enforcement
of occupation safety and health laws
• Local governments may be allowed to conduct industrial safety
inspections of establishments within their respective jurisdictions
• Setting up of safety committees
Every employer shall train a sufficient number of his supervisors or technical
personnel.
Employees
Non-Hazardous: 50 – 400 At least one of the supervisors of technical
each shift personnel shall be trained and shall be assigned
as part-time (Hazardous – full tme) safetyman,
Hazardous: 20 – 200 each which shall be the secretary of the safety
shift committee.
Non-Hazardous: over 400
per shift At least two safetymen, and one of them shall be a
full-time safetyman and secretary.
Hazardous: 20 – 200 each
shift
Employment of a full-time safetyman not required if employer enters into a
contract with a qualified consulting organization to develop and carry out
safety and health activities. Provided, that the consultant shall conduct plant
visits at least four hours a week and is on call to conduct accident
investigations and is available during inspections.
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) – is defined as the:
• Promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical,
mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations;
• Prevention among its workers of any departures from health caused
by their working conditions;
• Protection among workers in their employment from risks usually
from factors adverse to health and d) placing and maintenance of
the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his/her
physiological ability.
VIII. EMPLOYEES COMPENSATION (PD 626)
Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC)
• Quasi-judicial corporate entity – linked to DOLE for policy
coordination and guidance, cases denied by GSIS and SSS are
appealable to ECC, and cases denied by ECC are appealable to
CA.
• Composed of Sec of DOLE, GSIS general manager, SSS
president, Chairman of Philippine Health Insurance, Chairman of
Civil Service, and Executive Director of ECC. And 2 reps of
employees and employers.
Coverage
• The ECP covers all workers in the formal sector. Coverage in the
ECP starts on the first day of employment.
• Employees in the private sector who are registered members of the
Social Security System (SSS), except self-employed workers and
voluntary members of the SSS.
Workmen’s compensation
• A general and comprehensive term applied to those laws providing
for compensation for loss resulting from the injury, disablement, or
death of workmen through industrial accident, casualty, or disease.
• Compensation – money relief afforded according to the scale
established under the law.
o VS salary: fixed amount of money or compensation paid to
an employee by an employer in return for work performed.
o VS compensatory damages: recoverable in an action for
breach or contract or tort)
Benefits
• Loss of income benefit or a cash benefit given to a worker to
compensate for lost income due to his or her inability to work.
• Medical benefits which include the reimbursement of the cost of
medicine for the illness or injury, payments to providers of medical
care, hospital care, surgical expenses, and the costs of appliances
and supplies where necessary. The medical services are limited to
ward services of an accredited hospital.
• Rehabilitation services, which include physical therapy, vocational
training, and special assistance, provided to employees who
 sustain a disability as a result of sickness or injury arising out of
employment.
• Carer’s allowance which is provided to an employee who suffers a
permanent total disability (PTD) arising out of employment.
• Death benefits which are granted to beneficiaries of an employee
who dies as a result of sickness or injury arising out of employment.
When a worker on PTD status dies, his or her primary beneficiaries
shall receive eighty percent (80%) of his or her monthly income
benefit plus ten percent (10%) for every dependent child but not
exceeding five (5).
Filing of Claims
• Employees can claim only for work-connected sickness, injuries, or
death. The claimant or his/her representative may file an
appropriate claim with the GSIS, in case of public sector claimant,
or with the SSS.
• In case of private sector claimant within one (1) year from the last
day of confinement from the hospital. For home confinement, it
must be filed within one (1) year from the start of illness.
• A claim may be filed at any GSIS branch office, for government
employees, or at any SSS branch office, for employees in the
private sector.
Zaida Raro vs ECC and GSIS (GR No. 58445, 27 April 1989)
Social Insurance - a system of compulsory contribution of fixed and regular
premiums to provide government assistance in sickness, unemployment,
etc.
Facts:
• The petitioner states that she was in perfect health when employed
as a clerk by the Bureau of Mines and Geo-Sciences at its Daet,
Camarines Norte regional office on March 17,1975.
• About four years later, she began suffering from severe and
recurrent headaches coupled with blurring of vision. Forced to take
sick leaves every now and then, she sought medical treatment in
Manila.
• The petitioner was diagnosed at the Makati Medical Center to be
suffering from brain tumor. By that time, her memory, sense of time,
vision, and reasoning power had been lost.
• Problem arose: A claim for disability benefits filed by her husband
with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) was
denied. A motion for reconsideration was similarly denied.
• An appeal to the Employees' Compensation Commission resulted
in the Commission's affirming the GSIS decision.
• On January 1, 1975, the Workmen's Compensation Act was
replaced by a novel scheme under the new Labor Code. The new
law discarded, among others, the concepts of "presumption of
compensability" and "aggravation" and substituted a system based
on social security principles. The present system is also
administered by social insurance agencies — the Government
Service Insurance System and Social Security System — under the
Employees' Compensation Commission.
• The intent was to restore a sensible equilibrium between the
employer's obligation to pay workmen's compensation and the
employee's right to receive reparation for work-connected death or
disability.
Issues:
1. Whether brain tumor which causes are unknown but contracted
during employment is compensable under the present
compensation laws.
2. Whether the presumption of compensability is absolutely
inapplicable under the present compensation laws when a disease
is not listed as occupational disease.
Held:
The Court saw no arbitrariness in the Commission's allowing vinyl chloride
workers or plastic workers to be compensated for brain cancer. What the law
requires for others is proof. The law, as it now stands requires the claimant
to prove a positive thing –The illness was caused by employment and the
risk of contracting the disease is increased by the working conditions. Unless
it be shown that a particular form of cancer is caused by specific working
conditions, it cannot be concluded that it was the employment which
increased the risk of contracting the disease.
To say that since the proof is not available, therefore, the trust fund has the
obligation to pay is contrary to the legal requirement that proof must be
adduced. The existence of otherwise non-existent proof cannot be presumed
.The Court has recognized the validity of the present law and has granted
and rejected claims according to its provisions. We find in it no infringement No more presumption of compensability
of the worker's constitutional rights. Exception: for AFP members and Policemen

Dissenting opinions by J. Sarmiento and Paras: Quebec vs GSIS (ECC case no. 4310, 9 November 1988)
It would be asking too much of petitioner, who is cancer stricken, to prove • The moment an AFP member suffers a contingency, the
that her illness was caused by her work when medical experts, including the presumption is that it is because of the nature of his work. This
GSIS and ECC themselves are ignorant as to what brings it about. policy is adopted because of certain serious peace and order
problems of the country, and members of the AFP and policemen
Source of compensation: have become “marked men” or are targets of the insurgents of
1. Direct payment statutes – payment by the employer lawless elements.
2. Insurance statutes
• Requires the employer to take out insurance with the following: The old law destroyed the parity or balance between the competing interests
o Insurance bureau operated by the state of the employer and employee with respect to workmen’s compensation.
o Private company
• Requires the employer to a compensation fund (State Under the present law for an employee to be entitled to sickness, injury or
Insurance Fund) death benefits, it must have resulted:
o All employers are required to remit a monthly 1. Any illness definitely accepted as an occupational disease listed by
contribution equivalent to 1% of the monthly salary Commission.
credit of every covered employee. The employee pays 2. Any illness caused by employment subject to proof that the risk of
no contribution into the fund; agreement to the contracting the same is increased by working conditions.
contrary is VOID and PROHIBITED. 3. Proof of reasonable work connection, and is required only if cause
o Employer shall not suffer to pay the benefits, and is known, in cancer cases, proof that the working condition has
employer joins the employee in trying to have their Increased the risk of cancer is required
claims approved and is spared from the problem of
proving a negative proposition that the disease was Burden of proof - The employee should prove compensability, and must
not caused by employment. show proof reasonable work-connection, not necessarily direct causal
relation. The degree of proof required is merely substantial evidence, and is
Workmen’s Compensation Act Employees’ Compensation Law determined on a case-to-case basis.
Presumption of compensability –
once it is proven that injury or Compensable injury or illness
Abolished What is compensated is not the injury or the disease but the attendant loss
disease arose in course of
employment or impairment of earning capacity. To be compensable it must satisfy the
Principle of aggravation – rule that if following:
ailment aggravated by work, Abolished 1. Employee must have been injured at the place where his work
employer becomes liable requires him to be;
Requires the employer to controvert 2. Employee must have been performing his official functions;
No need to controvert because the 3. If the injury is sustained elsewhere, the employee must have been
the claim within 14 days from
claim is against the SIF not the executing an order for the employer.
disability or 10 days from knowledge
employer
otherwise considered waived
Concept of arising out of and in the course of employment (work-connection)
• Arising out - origin or cause
o Nature and degree of relation has a conflict of views,
whether it should be inherent or sufficient that employee
was exposed by reason of employment not necessarily
inherent. If employment is one of the contributing causes,
or if accident arises as the end product of a force or cause
set in motion in the course employment.
• In the course of - time and place
o Not necessary during hours of active labor or in premises
or within the control of the employer. Can be used in
passing to and from the place where the work is to be
done.
Proximate cause
• Sufficient cause - that which sets other causes in motion; natural
and continuous chain of event and must have been adequate to
produce the resultant damage without any:
o Independent intervening cause – usually the claimant’s
negligence or misconduct
o Special rule for AFP and PNP personnel
§ 24 hour rule for military and police personnel -
work connection still required
§ Different concept of the workplace (but
performing task which are basically related to
their duty as peace officers, with permission from
a superior office)
§ Non compensable: Injury during vacation leaves
or while moonlighting (side jobs, taking on a
second job separate from your main source of
income)
• Ingress and egress rule (Proximity rule)
o Going to or Coming from - General rule: Not covered
o Exceptions:
§ Proceeding to or from his work in the premises of
the employer
§ About to enter or about to leave the workplace
§ Employee is performing some errand for the
employer on his way to or from the workplace
§ The employer provides the transportation going
to or coming from the work place (Shuttle bus
rule)
o ECC Resolution No. 3914 (5 July 1988) – extending the
compensable coverage of off-premises injury from near
the premises up to the residence of the employee,
provided that:
§ Act of employee of going to, or coming from the
workplace, must have been a continuing act, no
diversion nor departed from his usual route to
and from his workplace.
§ Not anymore applied: Street peril doctrine -
considers the extent to which there is an inherent
risk of being injured while using public roadways.
Incidents of employment – it is settled that injuries sustained in connection
with acts which are reasonably incidental to the employment are deemed as
arising out of such employment.
• Acts of ministration – are those done by a person for purpose of
satisfying the call of nature. They are deemed to incidents of
employment and necessary to the health of the employee, so that
injuries sustained are compensable.
o Rest or Refreshment
o Lunch period
o Union meeting
• Acts for the benefits of the employer
o Work at home – if made pursuant to the request of the
employer (not compensable if voluntarily performed by the
employee)
o Special Errand rule – Must be covered by an office order
or a locator slip or pass or official business
• Acts during emergencies
o Expressly ordered by employer
o Absence of orders, but act was reasonably necessary
• Acts to further the goodwill of the business - Even without
emergency, direct orders, or reasonable necessity, if it was done in
the furtherance of the employer’s business in pursuance of a habit
or custom.
 • While travelling o Where there is serious doubt that prohibition was known to
o Where employee uses own vehicle which he also uses in the employees injured
performance of his duties o Where the violation was not intentional but due to
o Effect of deviation from route, schedule, or mode of travel carelessness or negligence.
– Depends upon the extent, purpose and effect. An o Exception: Intoxication, willful intention to injure or kill
unauthorized deviation is not compensable. It is himself or another, notorious negligence, or otherwise
compensable only after deviation has ended and the excluded from coverage of law.
employee is again in the course of his employment
o Dual purpose doctrine – considers an injury as Sickness – any illness definitely accepted as an occupational disease listed
compensable when an employee sustains it while on a by the Commission or any illness caused by employment subject to proof by
business trip for the benefit of the employer while an the employee that the risk of contracting the same is increased by working
employee pursues a personal purpose. conditions.
§ Resolution No. 99-08-0469, requiring that the
services of the employer is at least a concurrent Occupational disease – must be one due wholly to causes and conditions
cause of the trip of the employee. which are normal and constantly present and characteristic of the particular
• Employer sponsored activities – fall under special engagement rule, occupation, that is, those things which science and industry have not yet
which is one of the exceptions to the direct premises rule. learned how to eliminate. The employer is bound to require pre-employment
examination of employees exposed to occupational diseases.
• Acts of God or Force Majeur/Fortuitous Events – employer is not
responsible when the employee has been exposed to a greater
danger than usual.
o Exception: Positional and Local Risks – when one in the
course of his employment is reasonably required to be at a
particular place and a particular time, and there meets an
accident. (Since if it weren’t for the order, employee would
not have been exposed to the danger)
• Assault
o As an accident - work connection is required or in the
course of employment - the job has increased the risk of
being exposed to the assault
o Outside work – When a quarrel had its origin at work,
injury from assault committed outside the work premises is
deemed compensable. Quarrel to ending must be taken as
one.

Effects of violation of rules

• Acts within the sphere of employment but carried out in violation of
some employer-promulgated rules are compensable.
o Where the violation of the rule did not bring about the
cause