COMPENSATION

Evening Post, Issue 60, 11 March 1936, Page 12

COMPENSATION

AN AMENDING BILL

LIKELY PROVISIONS

SCOPE TO BE WIDENED

INCREASED PAYMENTS

Amendments of outstanding im« portance wilt be made to the Workers' Compensation' Act during the coming session of Parliament, and many anomalies which have '

been the subject of representations botli by employers and employees over a long period of years will be removed. Provision will be made jfor increased payments jo .thos« suffering accidents and their dependants. For instance, the present Act provides that the maximum payment which a servant may recover, from his employer in respect of an accident caused by'the negligence of a fellow-servant is £ 1000. This, it i» believed, will be increased to £1250.

Provision will probably be made Jin (the Bill for the establishment of a special Court to deal with, compensation cases. This Court will have the full powers at present exercised by the Arbitration Court in dealing with '' compensation cases, and will be constituted somewhat similarly. The quo tion of the constitution of the Court has not yet been decided, btit the Minister cf Labour (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong) holds the view • that it should consist of a Judge, a doctor, and a representative of the workers. CASUAL EMPLOYEES. The Act will be extended to cover a worker not employed: in or for the purpose of any trade or. business carried on by the , employer, and. such worker is to be compensated, if he has a been employed for' a period of at least three consecutive days within .the period df twelve months preceding the day of the accident. ■..;.'■ . i The minimum payment in the case of the death of a worker'will be fixed at £500 instead of £300 as at present In cases of accident the present Act provides for the payment of' reasonable medical and surgical expenses not exceeding £1. This amount will probably be increased to £25, and there will be a similar allowance for funeral expenses. , . Provision will probably.be made in the Bill that compensation moneys are to rank with wages in the event of the bankruptcy of the ■ employer. : . It is also proposed to include in the Bill a clause making it mandatory for employers to insure against accidents to their employees. Under the present Act insurance is not compulsory, and this has led to numerous cases of hardship. The view taken by the Government is that workers entitled to compensation as a result of an accident should not be deprived of their righto through the failure of the employer to Insure, and in the Bill penalties will be prescribed for failure^ to_ do so. Frosecutions will probably be taken by the Labour Department. INCREASED SCOPE. It is expectedthat another important proposal in the Bill will be to increase greatly the "number of workers^ovewd by its provisions. The present Act doei not include any person employed otherwise than by manual labour whoseremunerato.exceeds £400 a year, This. Amount will probablybe increased by OVThefe lowill probably be : important additions to the diseases,and injuries in respect of which compensation is payable; The principle to be adopted will be that an employer will beheld liable unless he can prove that the disoffice. ... . ■■ Another clause is exacted to provide SSSEgBSe for old age or widowhood. As has already been indicated, the mm Sued on a forty-hour week.