SUVA lawyer Jon Apted has raised concerns on some areas in the proposed Work Care Bill that lacked legal clarity.
At Monday’s consultation session between the Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Workplace Relations (MEPWR) and the Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation (FCEF), Mr Apted, FCEF’s legal counsel, questioned provisions for compensation claims, saying it was not clear if the ministry will be paying for claims taken to court under common law.
“At the moment, a worker or the dependents of a deceased worker who’s injured at work, has the option of bringing the workmen’s compensation claim or a common law claim for damages and negligence,” Mr Apted said.
“Common law damages are usually much higher than workmen’s compensation. Common law damages though require fault. The Accident Compensation Commission (ACCF) was responsible for both lump sum no-fault and common law fault damages.
“The provisions of the regulations that governed ACC were not well drafted. That’s not your fault.
“But those regulations, many of them have been pulled into this Bill. So it was unclear in the regulations whether ACC would be paying the common law damages.
“They took the interpretation that they would.
“What I want to know from the ministry is will the ministry be accepting the liability and responsibility for defending common law negligence? And have you considered that in the allocation of your fund?
“This is a very important issue for employers because until they put in the ACC, all employers used to insure for common law damages. Once ACCF came in and the insurance companies stopped offering that cover, nobody is covered for it. That needs to be clarified.”
Mr Apted said defending compensation cases under common law can involve millions of dollars.
“Fifteen years ago, I got a pilot $1.4m. That was 15 years ago. Imagine now and imagine if you were dealing with a bright student who’s 16 or 17 and who’s got their whole life ahead of them.”
