MINERS' COMPENSATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21278, 3 September 1932, Page 12

MINERS' COMPENSATION

CALCULATING WEEKLY WAGE PROBLEM OF SLACKNESS ARBITRATION COURT DECISIONS Judgments have been given by the Arbitration Court in two miners' compensation cases affecting the basis of calculation of tho compensation due, and distinguishing between abnormal slackness of work caused by the depression and the move or less normal slackness. The decision in the case of Alexander Shewan, of Stockton, West port, against the Wesl-port-Stockton Coal Company, Limited, is considered of such importance that the Court has expressed a desire to' state a case for the Court of Appeal in view of the frequency with which cases presenting similar features have to be dealt with.

According to the judgment, the general rule is that a worker who has a standard week of five, five and a half or six days is to receive compensation based on his earnings for a full week's work, although he has lost time through wet weather, illness, breakdowns of machinery and other causes. During the depression coal miners in particular havo been working so 11 regularly that it has been suggested that the standard week has, in fact, ceased to exist. In many cases to award compensation to an injured worker on the basis of his normal earnings being a full week's wages would result in his receiving more as compensation than ho would have received as wages had he not been injured. The mine owners consider that compensation should be based upon the actual earnings of the coal miner, while the unions consider that, notwithstanding tho altered conditions of trade, the old rule should apply. In Shewan's case against the WestportStockton Company, the Court held that there was evidence to justify it in finding that tho mine was working during the 12 months preceding the accident only to fill current orders, and that the miners definitely understood that they would be given work only when work- was available. The Court held that where tho conditions of employment are such that a worker may expect to work each day unless some unforeseen occurrence prevents him, ho is still to be paid compensation teased on the full week's wages, although he had not regularly worked the full week. Where, however, it is definitely understood that a worker is not expected to go to work on the following day unless he has been definitely invited to do so, and the work is consistently irregular, his average weekly earnings for the purposes of assessing compensation are to be computed on the following basis:—Multiply the daily earnings by the number of days on which the mine worked, plus the days lost through holidays, etc., and divide the result by tho number of weeks during which the mine worked. The result in Shewan's case was £4 2s Id.

In the case of Arthur Robinson, of Pukemiro, coalminer, against Pukeniiro Collieries, Limited, the Court held that there was no evidence to show that tho normal or standard week had been abrogated as in Shewan's case, and that therefore the old rule applied. The average weekly earnings were to be ascertained by multiplying his average daily earnings by the number of shifts in a normal full week. Judgment was for Robinson for the £1 Os 6d he claimed as due and £7 7s costs.