Work Injury Compensation Act 2019 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 4 · Compensation Process
64. Remedies against both employer and third party
Feedback & supportWhere any injury for which compensation is payable under this Act was caused under circumstances creating a legal liability in some person other than the employer (called in this section the third party) to pay damages in respect of the injury —
injury
“injury” or “personal injury” includes an occupational disease or a disease mentioned in section 10(1)(c);
the employee may take proceedings against the third party to recover damages and may claim against any person liable to pay compensation under this Act, but the employee is not entitled to recover both damages and compensation; and
where the employee has recovered compensation under this Act, the following persons are entitled to be indemnified by the third party:
the person by whom the compensation was paid;
the employer who has indemnified a principal who paid the compensation under section 13(3).
Subsection (3) applies where the right to recover damages from any third party, in respect of any injury caused to an employee by an accident arising out of and in the course of the employee’s employment, is reduced by virtue of any wilful act or negligence of the employer or employee.
employee
“employee” means an individual who has entered into or works under a contract of service with an employer and —(a)includes every employee of the Government in a class or description declared by the President to be employees for the purposes of this Act; but(b)does not include any class of individuals specified in the Third Schedule;
The right to be indemnified by the third party under subsection (1)(b) is limited to a right to be indemnified in respect of part of the total compensation paid or payable in such proportion as the court may determine as is appropriate to the degree to which the injury was attributable to the act, default or negligence of the third party.