On 20/06/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 20/06/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 20/06/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 01/03/2012.
90.
—(1) Subject to this Act, in the distribution of the property of a bankrupt, there shall be paid in priority to all other debts —
(a)
firstly, the costs and expenses of administration or otherwise incurred by the Official Assignee and the costs of the applicant for the bankruptcy order (whether taxed or agreed) and the costs and expenses properly incurred by a nominee in respect of the administration of any voluntary arrangement under Part V;
(b)
secondly, subject to subsection (2), all wages or salary (whether or not earned wholly or in part by way of commission) including any amount payable by way of allowance or reimbursement under any contract of employment or award or agreement regulating the conditions of employment of any employee;
(c)
thirdly, subject to subsection (2), the amount due to an employee as a retrenchment benefit or an ex gratia payment under any contract of employment or award or agreement that regulates the conditions of employment, whether such amount becomes payable before, on or after the date of the bankruptcy order;
(d)
fourthly, all amounts due in respect of any work injury compensation under the Work Injury Compensation Act (Cap. 354) accrued before, on or after the date of the bankruptcy order;
(e)
fifthly, all amounts due in respect of contributions payable during the 12 months immediately before, on or after the date of the bankruptcy order by the bankrupt as the employer of any person under any written law relating to employees’ superannuation or provident funds or under any scheme of superannuation which is an approved scheme under the Income Tax Act (Cap. 134);
(f)
sixthly, all remuneration payable to any employee in respect of vacation leave, or in the case of his death, to any other person in his right, accrued in respect of any period before, on or after the date of the bankruptcy order; and
(g)
seventhly, the amount of all taxes assessed and any goods and services tax due under any written law before the date of the bankruptcy order or assessed at any time before the time fixed for the proving of debts has expired.
[42/2005,5/2008]
(2) The amount payable under subsection (1)(b) and (c) shall not exceed an amount that is equivalent to 5 months’ salary whether for time or piecework in respect of services rendered by any employee to the bankrupt or $7,500, whichever is the lesser.
(3) The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, amend subsection (2) by varying the amount specified in that subsection as the maximum amount payable under subsection (1)(b) and (c).
(4) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b) and (c) —
“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service with the bankrupt and includes a subcontractor of labour;
“wages or salary” includes —
(a)
all arrears of money due to a subcontractor of labour;
(b)
any amount payable to an employee on account of wages or salary during a period of notice of termination of employment or in lieu of notice of such termination, as the case may be, whether such amount becomes payable before, on or after the date of the bankruptcy order; and
(c)
any amount payable to an employee, on termination of his employment, as a gratuity under any contract of employment, or under any award or agreement that regulates the conditions of his employment, whether such amount becomes payable before, on or after the date of the bankruptcy order.
(5) For the purposes of subsection (1)(c) —
“ex gratia payment” means the amount payable to an employee on the bankruptcy of his employer or on the termination of his service by his employer on the ground of redundancy or by reason of any re-organisation of the employer, profession, business, trade or work, and “the amount payable to an employee” for these purposes means the amount stipulated in any contract of employment, award or agreement, as the case may be;
“retrenchment benefit” means the amount payable to an employee on the bankruptcy of his employer, on the termination of his service by his employer on the ground of redundancy or by reason of any re-organisation of the employer, profession, business, trade or work, and “the amount payable to an employee” for these purposes means the amount stipulated in any contract of employment, award or agreement, as the case may be, or if no amount is stipulated therein, such amount as is stipulated by the Commissioner for Labour.
(6) The debts in each class specified in subsection (1) shall rank in the order therein specified but debts of the same class shall rank equally between themselves, and shall be paid in full, unless the property of the bankrupt is insufficient to meet them, in which case they shall abate in equal proportions between themselves.
(7) Where any payment has been made to any employee of the bankrupt on account of wages, salary or vacation leave out of money advanced by a person for that purpose, the person by whom the money was advanced shall, in a bankruptcy, have a right of priority in respect of the money so advanced and paid, up to the amount by which the sum in respect of which the employee would have been entitled to priority in the bankruptcy has been diminished by reason of the payment, and shall have the same right of priority in respect of that amount as the employee would have had if the payment had not been made.
(8) Where any creditor has given any indemnity or made any payment of moneys by virtue of which any asset of the bankrupt has been recovered, protected or preserved, the court may make such order as it thinks just with respect to the distribution of such asset with a view to giving that creditor an advantage over other creditors in consideration of the risks run by him in so doing.
(9) Where an interim receiver has been appointed under section 73 before the making of the bankruptcy order, the date of the appointment shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be the date of the bankruptcy order.