Compensation for shearers

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33964, 3 October 1975, Page 7

Compensation for shearers

Some confusion appeared to have arisen over the entitlement of shearers to compensation for the first week after a work accident, the director of compensation for the Accident Compensation Commission, Mr W. R. Caldwell, said last week.

Explaining the provisions for this in more detail, Mr Caldwell said: “Shearing work in New Zealand is' organised on a different basis from any other country. “On the one hand there are ‘open sheds,’ in which the individual shearers are employed by the farmer concerned, and these shearers travel from shed to shed. “In this case it is quite clear that the shearer is

either an employee of the farmer or a self-employed person. “If the shearer is an employee, the farmer will meet the first week’s pay if the shearer is injured during that period, provided the shearer was employed for at least seven days before the accident, and was not due to terminate his employment within six days after the accident.

“If the shearer is selfemployed, liability for payment during the first week does not arise. “Alternatively there are ‘contract sheds,’ where the shearing contractor arranges for labour to be available at the farmer’s shed when he needs it. The contractors and their gangs move from shed to shed, and the shearers are employed by the contractor on either a shed to shed or seasonal basis.

“On a shed-to-shed basis the shearer is usually engaged at the start of the shed and paid off at the end of the shed. Since many ‘sheds’ last less than a week, the shearer would not have been employed for seven days prior to the accident, and would have been due to terminate within six days after the accident. “In these cases the commission would be liable to pay the first week’s compensation at the rate of 80 per cent of the earnings lost, up to a maximum of $240 for the first week. “If, however, the shearer is engaged by the contractor on a seasonal basis, and had been employed for more than seven days and was not due to terminate within six days of the accident, the contractor is liable to pay the first week’s compensation at 100 per cent of the earnings lost for the first week.

“It would seem that employment conditions for shearers vary according to the terms of employment entered into by the shearers, the contractors and farmers. This system has been common in the farming industry for many years.”