The Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) issue Board Resolution No. 13-03-06 on “Policy on the Simultaneous Granting of Sick Leave benefits and EC Disability benefits in the Private Sector,” during the ECC Board meeting on April 8, 2013.

The new policy declares that, the grant of sick-leave benefits with pay and/or other similar benefits voluntarily granted by the employer shall not bar the grant of EC temporary or permanent disability in the event that the claimed illness or injury of an employee in the private sector was found to be work-related.

Thus, when an employee fails to report to work due to work-related injuries or diseases and such employee can avail of the leave credits for him to be absent from work with pay, he does not need to exhaust his leave credits before he can avail of the EC disability benefits.

The ECC issuance formalizes the present SSS practice of granting EC disability benefits to qualified employees regardless of whether they can still avail of sick leave benefits from their employers.

Prior to this issuance, the EC Rules were silent on the application of simultaneous grant of sick-leave and EC disability benefits.

Currently, a similar policy for the public sector workers is being studied by the ECC.