PART I | 1. This Act may be cited as the Workmen’s Compensation Act. |
2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —| “approved hospital” means a hospital declared to be such under section 14(1); [34/80] |
| “Commissioner” means the Commissioner for Labour appointed under section 3 of the Employment Act [Cap. 91], and includes any officer to whom the Commissioner has delegated all or any of the powers conferred or duties imposed upon the Commissioner by this Act; |
“dependant”, in respect of a deceased workman, means the wife, husband, parent, grandparent, step-father, step-mother, child, grandchild, step-child, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, step-brother and step-sister irrespective of whether that person is actually dependent on the workman’s earnings or not and for the purpose of this definition —| (a) | the child of a deceased workman shall be deemed to include the illegitimate child of such workman and any child whose adoption by him has been registered under the provisions of the Adoption of Children Act [Cap. 4] and any child under the care, custody or control of that workman pursuant to section 13 of the Children and Young Persons Act [Cap. 38]; and | | (b) | the parent of a deceased workman shall be deemed to include the father and the mother of an illegitimate child and the person who has registered the adoption of any child under the provisions of the Adoption of Children Act and the person who has the care, custody or control of a child pursuant to section 13 of the Children and Young Persons Act; |
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| “domestic servant” means a person employed exclusively in the work or in connection with work of a private dwelling-house and not of any trade, business or profession carried on by the employer in such dwelling-house and includes a gardener or a driver or cleaner of any vehicle licensed for private use; |
“earnings” means any wages paid in cash to the workman by the employer and any privilege or benefit which is capable of being estimated in money and includes the value of any food or quarters supplied to the workman by the employer if as a result of the accident the workman is deprived of such food or quarters; and any overtime payments or other special remuneration for work done, whether by way of bonus, allowance or otherwise, if of constant character or for work habitually performed except —| (a) | a travelling allowance; | | (b) | the value of any travelling concession; | | (c) | a contribution paid by the employer towards any pension or provident fund; | | (d) | a sum paid to the workman to cover any special expenses incurred by him by reason of the nature of his employment; |
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“employer” includes —| (a) | the Government; | | (b) | any statutory body or authority; | | (c) | the legal personal representative of a deceased employer; and | | (d) | in relation to a person employed for the purpose of any game or recreation and engaged or paid through a club, the manager or members of the managing committee of that club, |
| and where the services of a workman are temporarily lent or let on hire to another person by the person with whom the workman has entered into a contract of service or apprenticeship, the latter shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to continue to be the employer of the workman whilst he is working for that other person; |
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| “injury” includes any condition specified in the Second Schedule; |
| “medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner registered or exempted from registration under the provisions of any written law relating to the registration of medical practitioners in Singapore; |
| “outworker” means a person to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished or repaired or adapted for sale in his own home or on other premises not under the control or management of the person who gave out the materials or articles; |
“partial incapacity” means, where the incapacity is of a temporary nature, such incapacity as reduces the earning capacity of a workman in any employment in which he was engaged at the time of the accident resulting in his incapacity and, where the incapacity is of a permanent nature, such incapacity as reduces his earning capacity in every employment which he was able to undertake at the time of the accident: | Provided that every injury specified in the First Schedule, except such injury or combination of injuries in respect of which the percentage or aggregate percentage of the loss of earning capacity as specified in that Schedule against such injury or injuries amounts to or exceeds 100%, shall be deemed to result in permanent partial incapacity; |
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| “seaman” means any person employed as part of the crew of any Singapore ship within the meaning of the Merchant Shipping Act [Cap. 179] and includes the master of any such ship; |
“total incapacity” means such incapacity whether of a temporary or permanent nature as incapacitates a workman for all work which he was capable of undertaking at the time of the accident resulting in such incapacity:| Provided that permanent total incapacity shall be deemed to result from an injury or from any combination of injuries specified in the First Schedule where the percentage or aggregate percentage of the loss of earning capacity as specified in that Schedule against such injury or injuries amounts to or exceeds 100%; |
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“workman” means any person who has, either before or after the commencement of this Act, entered into or works under a contract of service or of apprenticeship with an employer, whether by way of manual labour or otherwise and whether the contract is express or implied or is oral or in writing, and whether the remuneration is calculated by time or by work done except —| (a) | a person employed otherwise than by way of manual labour whose earnings, calculated in accordance with section 8, exceed —| (i) | $1,250 a month where no other maximum amount of the earnings is specified under sub-paragraph (ii); or | | (ii) | where the maximum amount of the earnings is specified under this sub-paragraph by the Minister from time to time by notification in the Gazette , such amount as may for the time being be so specified; |
| | (b) | a person whose employment is of a casual nature and who is employed otherwise than for the purposes of the employer’s trade or business, not being a person employed for the purposes of any game or recreation and engaged or paid through a club; | | (c) | a domestic servant; | | (d) | a police officer and any other person engaged to perform police duties in accordance with the provisions of any written law while so performing such duties; | | (e) | an outworker; | | (f) | any member of the family of the employer who dwells with him in his house; | | (g) | any class of persons whom the Minister may, by order, declare not to be workmen for the purposes of this Act. |
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| (2) If in any proceedings for the recovery of compensation under this Act it appears to the Commissioner or the court that the contract of service or apprenticeship under which the injured person was working at the time when the accident causing the injury happened was illegal, the Commissioner, or the court may, if having regard to all the circumstances of the case he thinks proper to do so, deal with the matter as if the injured person had at such time been a person working under a valid contract of service or apprenticeship. |
| (3) Any reference to a workman who has been injured shall, unless the context otherwise requires, where the workman is dead, include a reference to his legal personal representative or to his dependants or any of them. |
| (4) This Act shall apply to an accident happening to a workman outside Singapore where the workman is ordinarily resident in Singapore and is employed by an employer in Singapore but is required in the course of his employment to work outside Singapore. |
| (5) The exercise and performance of the powers and duties of a department of the Government or a statutory body or authority shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the trade or business of the Government or statutory body or authority, as the case may be. |
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