Workers' (Occupational Diseases) Relief Fund Act 1954

Where it is established to the satisfaction of the Secretary, on the certificate of a certifying medical officer or, on appeal from that certificate, on the certificate of a medical referee, that an employee is suffering from disease and is thereby incapacitated from continuing to work as an employee, that employee is entitled to compensation in accordance with this section.

The compensation payable to an employee under this section shall be by way of weekly payments at the relevant compensation rate.

Subject to subsection (3A) of this section, the relevant compensation rate in respect of a period of incapacity of an employee is – the average weekly earnings of the employee over the period of twelve months ending at the commencement of the period of incapacity; or the ordinary time rate of pay of the employee (as expressed by reference to a week) for the work in which he was engaged immediately before the period of incapacity – whichever is the greater.

If, during a period of incapacity of an employee, the ordinary time rate of pay (as expressed by reference to a week) for any work on which he was engaged immediately before the commencement of that period increases or decreases, the relevant compensation rate shall correspondingly be increased or decreased by the like amount.

Where an employee would, but for the provisions of this subsection, be entitled to compensation under this section in respect of incapacity due to disease, and his employer provides him with other work that is not in the nature of mining operations and that the employee is capable of performing and the remuneration for the other work is not less than the remuneration that the employee was receiving at the time when the incapacity arose, the employee is not entitled to receive any compensation under this section while he is in receipt of that remuneration, and is not entitled to receive any compensation under this section if the other work is offered to him by his employer and he refuses to accept it.

Where an employee is permanently incapacitated, either wholly or partially, from continuing to work as an employee and is entitled to compensation under this section he may, if he has attained the age of eighteen years, enter into an agreement in writing with the Board to receive a lump sum in satisfaction of the whole or a part of the weekly payments to which he would otherwise be so entitled; and upon payment of that lump sum his right to those weekly payments shall be deemed to have been satisfied to the extent specified in the agreement.

An agreement made under subsection (5) of this section shall be filed with the Secretary.

No payments shall be made by way of compensation under this section the aggregate of which, as determined in accordance with section twenty-five AA, exceeds two hundred and eighty-four times the amount of average basic rate for the period of those payments, as determined in accordance with that section.

Any payments which the Secretary would have otherwise been required to make under this section to a person who is under the age of eighteen years may be made to the Public Trustee to be applied by him at his discretion for the benefit of that person.

Claims by employees for compensation under this section shall be determined by the Secretary on application to it in the prescribed manner by or on behalf of the claimants.

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, where an employee has, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, entered into an agreement under subsection (5) of this section or under subsection (5) of section thirty-four of the repealed Act, and it is established to the satisfaction of the Secretary – on the certificate of a certifying medical officer, or, on appeal from that certificate, on the certificate of a medical referee, that the extent of the incapacity of the employee arising from the disease in respect of which he has been paid compensation has increased since the time when the employee entered into the agreement; and that, since entering into the agreement, the employee has not engaged in mining operations – the employee shall be paid such further compensation as he might lawfully have been paid pursuant to this section if he had, at the time of entering into the agreement, been incapacitated to the extent specified in the medical certificate mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection, and any further compensation so payable may be paid either in a lump sum or by way of weekly payments.