MALAWI:   WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT, 2000                                                     MALAWI SDNP
 
 
 
PART I-PRELIMINARY
 
Short title and  
commencement
  1. This Act may be cited as the Workers' Compensation Act, 999, 
      and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may 
      appoint by notice published in the Gazette. 
Meaning  
of worker
 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise    requires, "worker" means any  
     person who has, whether before or after the commencement of this Act,  
     entered into, or works under, a contract of service or apprenticeship  
     with an employer in any employment, whether the contract is expressed  
     orally or in writing or is implied:  
  
     Provided that the following persons  shall be excepted from the definition  
     of "worker"-  

     (a)  a person whose employment is of a casual nature and who  is employed  
           otherwise than for the purposes of the employer's business, not being a  
           person employed for the purposes of any game or recreation and  
           engaged or paid through a club; or  

     (b)  an outworker;  

     (c)  a tributer;  

     (d)  a member of the employer's family living in the employer's house;  

     (e)  a member of the armed forces of Malawi; or  

     (f)  any class of persons whom the Minister may, by notice published in the  
          Gazette, declare not to be workers for the purposes of this Act.

 Interpretation  3.  (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-  

           "assessment" means an assessment made.under Part XI;  

           "business" means any industry, undertaking, trade, occupation  
            or other activity in which a worker is employed;  
  
           "Commissioner" means the Commissioner for Workers'  
            Compensation appointed under section 36 and includes any officer  
            subordinate to him or any other person duly acting within the powers  
            and duties of the Commissioner conferred by this Act;  

            "compensation" means compensation payable under this Act and  
              includes medical aid and any benefit of any nature to which  
              a worker or his dependents may be entitled under this Act;  

              "Board" means the Board established tinder section 27;  

              "dependents" means those members of the family of a worker  
               who were wholly or in part dependent Opon his earnings at the  
               time of his death, or who but for the incapacity due to the injury  
               have been so dependent; and, where the worker, being the parent  
               or grandparent of an illegitimate child; leaves such child so  
               dependent upon his earnings or, being an illegitimate child, leaves  
               a parent or grandparent so dependent on his earnings shall include  
               such an illegitimate child or parent or grandparent, respectively:  
               Provided that a person shall not be deemed to be a partial  
               dependent of another person unless he was dependent partially on  
               contributions from that other person for the provision of the  
               ordinary necessaries of life suitable for persons in his class and  
               position;  

              "earnings" includes wages paid to a worker by the employer,  
               the value of any food, fuel or quarters supplied to the worker by  
               the employer and any overtime payments or other special remu-  
               neration for work done, whether by way of bonus or otherwise, if  
               of constant character or for work habitually performed, but does  
               not include remuneration for intermittent overtime, or causal pay-  
               ments of a non-recurrent nature, or any ex-gratia payment  
               whether given by the employer or other person, or the value of a  
               travelling allowance, or the value of any travelling concession, or  
               a contribution paid by the employer of a worker towards any pen-  
               sion or provident fund, or a sum paid to a worker to cover any  
               special expenses entailed on him by the nature of his employment;  

              "employer" includes the Government (except the armed forces  
               of Malawi), a local authority, any body or association of persons,  
               corporate or unincorporated, and the personal representative of a  
               deceased employer, and where the services of a worker are tem-  
               porarily lent or let on hire to another person by the person with  
               whom the worker has entered into a contract of service or appren-  
               ticeship, the latter shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed  
               to be the employer;  

              "Fund" means the Workers' Compensation Fund established  
               under Part XI;  
  
               "injury" means a personal injury and includes the contraction  
                of a scheduled disease;  

               "medical aid" means any or all the benefits for the worker  
                under Part V; 

Cap. 36:01               "medical practitioner" means a person registered as such under  
               the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act;  

             "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 worker in any  
              employment in which he was engaged at the time of the injury  
              resulting in the incapacity, and, where the incapacity is of a  
              permanent nature, such incapacity as reduces his earning capacity  
              in any employment which he was capable of undertaking at that time:  

              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 one hundred per centum or more, shall be deemed to result in  
              permanent partial incapacity;  

              "scheduled disease" means a disease specified in the Second  
               Schedule;  

              "total incapacity" means such incapacity, whether of a temporary or  
               permanent nature, as incapacitates a worker for any employment  
               which he was capable of undertaking at the time of the injury  
               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 one hundred per centum;  

              "tributer" means a person who is granted permission to win minerals,  
                receiving a proportion of the minerals won by him or the value  
                thereof.  

         (2) The exercise and performance of the powers and duties of the  
               Government, a local authority or any other body, corporate or unin-  
               corporated, shall, for the purposes of this Act, be treated as the busi-  
               ness of the Government or of such local authority or other body.  

         (3)  If in any proceedings for the recovery of compensation it appears to  
               the Commissioner that the contract of service or apprenticeship  
               under which the injured person was working at the time of the injury  
               was not legally valid or otherwise legally unenforceable, the  
               Commissioner, if having regard to all the circumstances of the  
               case he thinks it proper to do may, with the approval of the Board,  
               deal with the matter as if the injured person at the material time had  
               been a person working under a legally valid and enforceable con  
               tract of service or apprenticeship.  

        (4) Except for the purposes of section 25, any reference to a worker who  
              has been injured and is dead shall, unless the context otherwise  
              requires, include reference to his personal representative or his  
              dependents or any of them or the Administrator General or  
              such other public officer as the Minister may appoint to act on  
              behalf of the dependents of the worker.  

        (5) This Act shall apply to workers employed by or under the way and to  
              the same extent as if the Government in the same in the case of  
              persons in employer were a private person, except the armed forces  
             of Malawi:  

              Provided that nothing in this subsection shall be construed as  
              preventing the application of this Act to persons in the armed  
              forces of Malawi by any written law governing or regulating the  
              armed forces. of Malawi.