Worker’s Compensation Act
1923(PG-IIIrd Sem.-HR)
Sonalee Srivastava
Lecturer,
SMS,Varanasi
Worker’s Compensation Act
1923
(1) This Act may be called the Workmen's
Compensation Act, 1923.
(2) It extends to the whole of India.
(3) It shall come into force on the first day of
July, 1924.
Worker’s Compensation Act
1923
The growing complexity of industry in this
country, with the increasing use of machinery
& consequent danger to workmen along with
comparative poverty of the workmen
themselves renders it advisable that they should
be protected as far as possible from hardship
arising from accidents. As a result the worker’s
compensation act was passed in 1923
Objective
To provide for the payment by certain classes of
employers to their workmen of compensation for
injury by accident.
The compensation is payable in case the injury is
caused by an accident which occurs either in the
course of employment or out of the employment.
The purpose is not only to compensate the
workman in lieu of wages but also to pay
compensation for the injury caused.
Feature
The act provide social security to the workers.
The term ‘wages’ includes overtime pay & the value of
concessions or benefits in the form of food, clothing,
accommodation ,etc.
Minimum rates of compensation for permanent total
disablement & death have been fixed at Rs. 140000 &
Rs.120000 Resp.
Feature
In order to protect the interest of dependents in
case of fatal accidents, it is provided in the act that
—
All cases of fatal accidents are to be brought to the
notice of commissioner of labor.
In case of admission of liability by the employer,
the amount of compensation is to be deposited
with the commissioner within 30 days.
Applicability of the Act
The act covers all the workmen employed on railways,
factories, mines, etc.
The act applies to all factories engaged in an industry
specified in schedule II of the Act.
The act also applies to seamen & shipmasters of power
driver ships or non-power driven ships of 50 or more
tons.
The act applies to all organized industries & hazardous
occupations including building & loading or unloading
operations.
Rules- EMPLOYER'S LIABILITY
FOR COMPENSATION
(1) If personal injury is caused to a workman by accident
arising out of and in the course of his employment, his
employer shall be liable to pay compensation in
accordance with the provisions of this Chapter :
Provided that the employer shall not be so liable - (a) in
respect of any injury which does not result in the total or
partial disablement of the workman for a period exceeding
three days;
(b) in respect of any injury, not resulting in death or
permanent total disablement, caused by an accident which
is directly attributable to - (i) the workman having been at
the time thereof under the influence of drink or drugs, or
(ii) the willful disobedience of the workman to an order expressly
given, or to a rule expressly framed, for the purpose of securing the
safety of workmen.
(iii) the willful removal or disregard by the workman of any safety
guard or other device which he knew to have been provided for the
purpose of securing the safety of workmen,
Amount Of Compensation
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the amount of compensation
shall be as follows, namely :- (a) where death results an amount equal
to fifty from the injury cent of the monthly wages of the deceased
workman multiplied by the relevant factor; or an amount of 120000
rupees, whichever is more;
(b) where permanent total an amount equal to disablement results from
sixty the injury per cent of the monthly wages of the injured workman
multiplied by the relevant factor, or an amount of 140000 rupees,
whichever is more.
Explanation I : For the purposes of clause (a) and clause (b), "relevant
factor", in relation to a workman means the factor specified in the
second column of Schedule IV against the entry in the first column of
that Schedule specifying the number of years which are the same as
the completed years of the age of the workman on his last birthday
immediately preceding the date on which the compensation fell due;
Amount Of Compensation
Explanation II : Where the monthly wages of a workman exceed Three
thousand five hundred rupees, his monthly wages for the purposes of
clause (a) and clause (b) shall be deemed to be 3500 Rs. only;
Amount Of Compensation
Explanation I : Where more injuries than
one are caused by the same accident,
the amount of compensation payable
under this head shall be aggregated but
not so in any case as to exceed the
amount which would have been payable
if permanent total disablement had
resulted from the injuries;
COMPENSATION TO BE PAID WHEN
DUE AND PENALTY FOR DEFAULT
(1) Compensation under section 4 shall be paid as soon as it falls
due.
(2) In cases where the employer does not accept the liability for
compensation to the extent claimed, he shall be bound to make
provisional payment based on the extent of liability which he
accepts, and, such payment shall be deposited with the
Commissioner or made to the workman, as the case may be,
without prejudice to the right of the workman to make any further
claim.
(3) Where any employer is in default in paying the compensation
due under this Act within one month from the date it fell due, the
Commissioner shall - (a) direct that the employer shall, in addition
to the amount of the arrears, pay simple interest thereon at the rate
of twelve per cent per annum or at such higher rate not exceeding
the maximum of the lending rates of any scheduled bank as may be
specified by the Central Government, by notification in the Official
Gazette, on the amount due; and
METHOD OF CALCULATING
WAGES
In this Act and for the purposes thereof the expression
"monthly wages" means the amount of wages deemed to
be payable for a month's service (whether the wages are
payable by the month or by whatever other period or at
piece rates), and calculated as follows, namely :-
(a) where the workman has, during a continuous period of
not less than twelve months immediately preceding the
accident, been in the service of the employer who is liable
to pay compensation, the monthly wages of the workman
shall be one-twelfth of the total wages which have fallen
due for payment to him by the employer in the last twelve
months of that period;
METHOD OF CALCULATING
WAGES
(b) where the whole of the continuous period of
service immediately preceding the accident during
which the workman was in the service of the
employer who is liable to pay the compensation
was less than one month, the monthly wages of the
workman shall be the average monthly amount
which, during the twelve months immediately
preceding the accident, was being earned by a
workman employed on the same work by the same
employer, or, if there was no workman so
employed, by a workman employed on similar
work in the same locality;
METHOD OF CALCULATING
WAGES
(c) in other cases [including cases in which it is not
possible for want of necessary information to calculate the
monthly wages under clause (b), the monthly wages shall
be thirty times the total wages earned in respect of the last
continuous period of service immediately preceding the
accident from the employer who is liable to pay
compensation, divided by the number of days comprising
such period.
Explanation : A period of service shall, for the purposes of
this section be deemed to be continuous which has not
been interrupted by a period of absence from work
exceeding fourteen days.
REVIEW
(1) Any half-monthly payment payable under this Act, either under an
agreement between the parties or under the order of a Commissioner,
may be reviewed by the Commissioner, on the application either of the
employer or of the workman accompanied by the certificate of a
qualified medical practitioner that there has been a change in the
condition of the workman or, subject to rules made under this Act, on
application made without such certificate.
(2) Any half-monthly payment may, on review under this section,
subject to the provisions of this Act, be continued, increased,
decreased or ended, or if the accident is found to have resulted in
permanent disablement, be converted to the lump sum to which the
workman is entitled less any amount which he has already received by
way of half-monthly payments.
NOTICE AND CLAIM
(1) No claim for compensation shall be entertained by a Commissioner
unless notice of the accident has been given in the manner hereinafter
provided as soon as practicable after the happening thereof and unless
the claim is preferred before him within two years of the occurrence of
the accident or, in case of death, within two years from the date of
death : Provided that, where the accident is the contracting of a disease
in respect of which the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 3 are
applicable, the accident shall be deemed to have occurred on the first
of the days during which the workman was continuously absent from
work in consequence of the disablement caused by the disease :
Provided further that in case of partial disablement due to the
contracting of any such disease and which does not force the workman
to absent himself from work, the period of two years shall be counted
from the day the workman gives notice of the disablement to his
employer :
NOTICE AND CLAIM
Provided further that if a workman who, having been employed in an
employment for a continuous period, specified under sub-section (2) of section
3 in respect of that employment, ceases to be so employed and develops
symptoms of an occupational disease peculiar to that employment within two
years of the cessation of employment, the accident shall be deemed to have
occurred on the day on which the symptoms were first detected.
Provided further that the want of or any defect or irregularity in a notice shall
not be a bar to the entertainment of a claim - (a) if the claim is preferred in
respect of the death of a workman resulting from an accident which occurred
on the premises of the employer, or at any place where the workman at the
time of the accident was working under the control of the employer or of any
person employed by him, and the workman died on such premises or at such
place, or on any premises belonging to the employer, or died without having
left the vicinity of the premises or place where the accident occurred, or (b) if
the employer or any one of several employers or any person responsible to the
employer for the management of any branch of the trade or business in which
the injured workman was employed had knowledge of the accident from any
other source at or about the time when it occurred :
NOTICE AND CLAIM
Provided further that the Commissioner may entertain and decide any claim to
compensation in any case notwithstanding that the notice has not been given,
or the claim has not been preferred in due time as provided in this sub-section,
if he is satisfied that the failure so to give the notice or prefer the claim, as the
case may be, was due to sufficient cause.
(2) Every such notice shall give the name and address of the person injured
and shall state in ordinary language the cause of the injury and the date on
which the accident happened, and shall be served on the employer or upon any
one of several employers, or upon any person responsible to the employer for
the management of any branch of the trade or business in which the injured
workman was employed.
(3) The State Government may require that any prescribed class of employers
shall maintain at their premises at which workmen are employed a notice-
book, in the prescribed form, which shall be readily accessible at all
reasonable times to any injured workman employed on the premises and to
any person acting bond fide on his behalf.
NOTICE AND CLAIM
A notice under this section may be
served by delivering it at, or sending it
by registered post addressed to, the
residence or any office or place of
business of the person on whom it is to
be served, or, where a notice-book is
maintained, by entry in the notice book.
APPEAL
An order awarding a lump-sum as compensation
whether by way of redemption of half monthly
payment or otherwise.
An order awarding interest or penalty.
An order for distribution of compensation among
dependents of the deceased workman.
No appeal shall lie after the expiry of 60 days
from the date of the order.
