WORKERS' RIGHTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 60, 8 September 1938, Page 11

WORKERS' RIGHTS

COMPENSATION ACT

PROPOSED CHANGES

CRITICAL COMMENT

Critical reference to the probable effect of the proposal at present before the House to alter the provisions for determining a worker's disability for the purposes of workers' compensation was made today by a Wellington solicitor when discussing the section of the Statutes Amendment Bill dealing with the matter. Referring to the computation of weekly payments under the original Act, the amendment now before the House proposes that these payments shall not be ended-or diminished except in the following cases: Where the weekly payment is for total disablement and the worker has actually returned to work; where .an agreement has been reached with the worker concerned; or where a competent Court has given leave or judgment. It is also proposed that if a medical practitioner certifies that a worker is wholly or partially recovered or that his incapacity is not entirely due to the accident, the Arbitration Court or a Magistrate may grant leave to end or diminish weekly compensation payments. Any such action will have no effect in the determination of .whether the worker is entitled to compensation. '' If an employer neglects to observe the new provisions he will be liable for double the amount of which default is made. Another clause provides that certificates already given by medical committees are not to be conclusive, and in this respect time for the commencement of an action will date from the passing of the Bill, instead of from the date of the accident, while, even if judgment has been entered, there will still be a right to commence further proceedings. IMPLICATION OF PROPOSALS. Discussing the implication of these proposals with a "Post" representative, the solicitor said: — "Ever sine© "workers' compensation legislation has been io force in England and'in New Zealand—since 1900 —and also in Australia, to the best of my knowledge, there has always been provision for referring disputes to an independent medical tribunal consisting of either one or more doctors as the legislation may provide. That this has proved satisfactory appears j evident in England, at all events/from! the fact that the provision has been J renewed in every subsequent Act re- ] lating to workers' compensation and that it is still In force. * ! "The matter was r«§cently well set, out in a Scotch case where it was stated that it was desirable to jaye time, expense, and delay, that matters, eminently, fitted. to be dealt with by the medical profession should be referred to independent medical men. "In New Zealand, prior to 1936, the disposal of these matters by an independent jnedical referee could be done ;only' r-wftn'l:he consent of both parties, but once the matter was before the medical referee his findings were regarded as conclusive —that is, the Court had no jurisdiction to go behind them. Then, in 1936, under section 9 of the Workers Compensation Amendment Act, provision was made prohibiting employers from ceasing to pay or diminishing weekly payments of com|^psajtjdn other than in the circumptanceslset out in the Act. One of circumstanced was if a medical certified that the man was fit for work: That medical board was to be comprised of' three qualified doctors appointed by the Governor-General from various parts of the* Dominion. It was significant that for the first time in New Zealand these matters were toT come before a board of three men instead of one. In England there had never^ been more than one doctor as a special referee, APPEAL COURT DECISION. "Provision was made in the amendment that the findings of this committee should be conclusive —as had been the case previously with a single referee —and that the Arbitration Court had no jurisdiction to go behind its certificate. That this was the effect of the section was decided recently by the Court of Appeal, and a provision such as that was a very welcome one. In the first place it was available equally, to the worker and to the employer, a fact which was pointed out by the learned Judges in the course of argument on the case at appeal. Furthermore, it was apparently realised by the Legislature that the Arbitration Court cannot be in all parts of New Zealand at the same time and that some other tribunal should be available. . "Now, apparently, the Legislature wishes to get away from the conclusiveness of the committee's certificate, which means that no employer who has to bear the expenses of reference to the committee will bother to use that procedure. It would be better for him, in such a case, simply to wait and call evidence when the case goes to Court. As a result, employers against whom it is proposed to increase the penalties for stopping compensation i