Singapore legislation
Section 35
Section 35
Deemed claim when employer has notice of accident
(1)
A claim for compensation under this Act is deemed to be made by an employee when the employer first has notice of an accident giving rise to the employee’s work injury.
(2)
An employer has notice of an accident for the purposes of this Act when either of the following events occurs:
the employee informs any of the following persons of the date and place of the accident and the cause of the injury:
the employer;
the foreman or any other person under whose supervision the employee was employed at the time of the accident; (iii)any person designated for the purpose by the employer; (b)the employer has knowledge of the accident by any other means.
(3)
Every employer must, within the prescribed time after the employer first has notice of an accident giving rise to work injury to any employee of the employer, give notice of the accident to —
the Commissioner in the form and manner specified by the Commissioner; and
the employer’s insurer in writing.
(4)
An employee must, as soon as possible after sustaining a work injury in an accident, notify the employer or any of the other persons mentioned in subsection (2)(a).
(5)
The employee’s claim under this Act is deemed to be withdrawn if the employer does not have notice of the employee’s accident at the end of whichever period specified in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) that ends last:
one year after the date of the employee’s accident;
if the employee dies within the period mentioned in paragraph (a), one year after the date of the employee’s death; (c)any period ending on a later date specified under subsection (6).
(6)
Subject to subsection (7), the Commissioner may specify a period for the purposes of subsection (5)(c) only if the Commissioner is satisfied that the delay was caused by mistake, absence from Singapore or other reasonable cause.
(7)
The Commissioner must not specify a period for the purposes of subsection (5)(c) if the Commissioner is satisfied that the delay was caused by an action for damages being instituted by or on behalf of the employee in any court for compensation in respect of that accident.
(8)
An employer who fails to give notice of an accident to the Commissioner in accordance with subsection (3)(a) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction —
to a fine not exceeding $5,000; or
if the person is a repeat offender, to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
(9)
A person is a repeat offender in relation to an offence under subsection (8) if the person who is convicted of an offence under that subsection has been convicted on at least one other earlier occasion of —
an offence under subsection (8); or
an offence under regulation 3(5) of the Work Injury Compensation Regulations (Cap. 354, Rg 1) as in force before 1 September 2020, whether the conviction was before, on or after 1 September 2020.