On 25/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 25/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 25/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 01/06/2012.
4.
—(1) If —
(a)
an employee who is employed in any occupation specified in the second column of the Second Schedule contracts an occupational disease specified in the first column of that Schedule opposite that occupation; or
(b)
an employee who has been employed in that occupation contracts that disease within the period specified in the third column of that Schedule opposite that occupation (referred to in this section as the limitation period for that occupational disease) after ceasing to be so employed,
and the incapacity or death of the employee results from that disease, compensation shall be payable as if the disease were a personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of that employment, and all the other provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly, subject to this section.
[5/2008]
(1A) If an employee contracts, on or after the date of commencement of the Work Injury Compensation (Amendment) Act 2011 (referred to in this section as the appointed day), a disease which is not specified in the first column of the Second Schedule but which is directly attributable to an exposure, arising out of and in the course of his employment, to a chemical or biological agent and the incapacity or death of the employee results from that disease, compensation shall be payable as if the disease were a personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of that employment and all the other provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly, subject to this section.
(1B) Subsection (1A) shall apply only if the exposure to a chemical or biological agent commences on or after the appointed day, or commences before and continues on or after the appointed day.
(2) When an employee enters into a contract of service or apprenticeship with any employer to work in any occupation specified in the Second Schedule or is, with his consent, transferred by his employer to such an occupation, the employee shall, if requested to do so by the employer, submit himself for examination by a medical practitioner, the fee for which shall be paid by the employer; but he shall not be required to submit himself for such examination otherwise than in accordance with regulations made under this Act.
[5/2008]
(3) No compensation shall be payable by an employer under this section in respect of the incapacity or death of an employee resulting from an occupational disease specified in the first column of the Second Schedule or other disease referred to in subsection (1A) if —
(a)
in the case of an occupational disease —
(i)
the employee is, on or after the appointed day, employed by the employer in the occupation specified opposite the occupational disease;
(ii)
the occupational disease is contracted on or after the appointed day; and
(iii)
the employee’s incapacity commences or his death happens after ceasing to be so employed and after the lapse of the limitation period for that occupational disease; or
(b)
in the case of other disease referred to in subsection (1A), the employee’s incapacity commences or his death happens more than one year after the employee ceases to be exposed to the chemical or biological agent referred to in that subsection.
(3A) Subsection (3) shall not apply to the death of an employee where his death has been preceded, whether immediately or not, by any period of incapacity in respect of which compensation is payable under this section.
[5/2008]
(4) For the purposes of calculating the monthly earnings of the employee in a claim for compensation under this section, the date of commencement of the incapacity of the employee or the date of his death, if there has been no previous period of incapacity, shall be treated as the date of the happening of the accident, if he is then employed by the employer from whom compensation is claimed in any employment to the nature of which the occupational disease referred to in subsection (1) or other disease referred to in subsection (1A) is due, and if he is not then so employed, the last day on which he was so employed shall for this purpose be deemed to be the date of the happening of the accident.
[5/2008]
(5) For all other purposes of this Act, in a claim for compensation under this section, the date of commencement of the incapacity of the employee, or the date on which a medical practitioner certifies that in his opinion the employee is suffering from such occupational disease referred to in subsection (1) or other disease referred to in subsection (1A), whichever date is the earlier, or the date of his death if there has been no previous period of incapacity shall be deemed to be the date of the happening of the accident.
[5/2008]
(6) If the occupational disease referred to in subsection (1) or other disease referred to in subsection (1A) has been contracted by a gradual process, so that 2 or more employers are severally liable to pay compensation in respect thereof under this section, the aggregate amount of such compensation shall not exceed the amount that would have been payable if those employers had been a single employer, and in such case each of those employers shall, in default of agreement, be liable for such proportion of the compensation payable as the Commissioner thinks just.
[5/2008]
(7) The Minister may appoint such medical practitioners to be medical referees for the purpose of determining whether the disease in respect of which compensation is claimed is in fact an occupational disease referred to in subsection (1) or other disease referred to in subsection (1A), and any other matter which is material for the determination of any claim for compensation under this Act.
[5/2008]
(8) The report of a medical referee appointed under subsection (7) may be acted upon by the Commissioner as if it were conclusive evidence of the facts certified in such report.