Workmen's Compensation (Amendment) Act, 1955
|
Redemption of weekly payments on application of workman. |
8.—(1) Where a weekly payment (including a weekly payment which commenced before the appointed day) to a workman in a case of total incapacity has been continued for not less than two years, the Court, on the application of the workman made at any time after he has attained the age of twenty-one years, if it is satisfied that the workman remains totally incapacitated as a result of the injury and that he is likely to continue to be so incapacitated for the rest of his life, may by order provide for the payment by the employer, by way of redemption as from the date of the application of his liability to make the weekly payment, of a lump sum of such amount as may be determined by the Court, subject to the limitation that the amount so determined shall not exceed such amount as would, if invested on the date of the application in the purchase of an immediate life annuity, purchase an annuity for the workman equal to seventy-five per cent. of the annual value of the weekly payment. | |
(2) In determining under subsection (1) of this section the amount of a lump sum, the Court, as well as having regard to all other matters which it considers relevant, shall have regard, in particular, to the age of the workman and to his expectation of life. | ||
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section a life annuity shall be deemed to be purchasable at a price calculated in accordance with the Table set forth in the Second Schedule to this Act and not otherwise. | ||
(4) The Court shall have a discretion to grant or refuse an application under this section and, in exercising that discretion, the Court, as well as having regard to all other matters which it considers relevant, shall have regard, in particular, to whether the making of the order would be for the benefit of the workman and whether the making of the order would cause undue hardship to the employer. | ||
(5) This section shall not apply to a case of partial incapacity which, by an order under section 24 of the Act of 1934, is required to be treated as a case of total incapacity. | ||
(6) This section shall come into operation on the appointed day. | ||
(7) This section shall be construed as one with the Act of 1934. |