On 23/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 23/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 23/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 01/03/2012.
56I.
—(1) The following shall be paid under a debt repayment plan applicable to a debtor in priority to all other debts proved under the debt repayment scheme (to which the plan relates) and included in the plan:
(a)
firstly, the cost and expenses incurred by the Official Assignee in the administration of the scheme, and the costs (whether taxed or agreed) of the applicant creditor in respect of the relevant bankruptcy application made against the debtor;
(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 effective date of the scheme;
(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 effective date of the scheme;
(e)
fifthly, all amounts due in respect of contributions payable during the 12 months immediately before, on or after the effective date of the scheme by the debtor 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 effective date of the scheme; and
(g)
seventhly, the amount of all taxes assessed and any goods and services tax due under any written law on or before the effective date of the scheme.
[6/2009]
(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 debtor or $7,500, whichever is the lesser.
[6/2009]
(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).
[6/2009]
(4) 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 amount standing to the credit of the debtor in the Debt Repayment Schemes Account is insufficient to meet them, in which case they shall abate in equal proportions between themselves.
[6/2009]
(5) Where any payment has been made to any employee of the debtor 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, under the debt repayment plan, 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 under this section 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.
[6/2009]
(6) Subject to subsection (7), where a debt proved by a creditor under a debt repayment scheme includes interest, the interest shall be calculated —
(a)
at such rate to which the creditor is entitled under any written law or rule of law if that rate does not exceed the rate prescribed under paragraph (b); or
(b)
in any other case, at such rate as may be prescribed unless the debt repayment plan under the scheme stipulates that the rate shall be the higher rate to which the creditor is entitled under any written law or rule of law.
[6/2009]
(7) For the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (6), a debtor shall not be required under a debt repayment plan to pay interest at a rate higher than the rate prescribed under that paragraph unless the Official Assignee is satisfied that the debtor has sufficient funds to pay in full all his debts proved under the scheme and included in the plan, interest on such debts at the higher rate, and the costs and expenses specified in subsection (1)(a).
[6/2009]
(8) Interest on preferential debts shall rank equally with interest on debts other than preferential debts.
[6/2009]
(9) In this section —
“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service with the debtor and includes a subcontractor of labour;
“ex gratia payment” means the amount payable to an employee 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;
“interest” includes any pecuniary consideration in lieu of interest and any penalty or late payment charge by whatever name called;
“preferential debt” means any debt specified in subsection (1);
“retrenchment benefit” means the amount payable to an employee 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;
“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 effective date of the debt repayment scheme; 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 effective date of the debt repayment scheme.
[6/2009]