Workmen's Compensation Act, 1934

“Workman”.

5.—(1) In this Act the word “workman” means a person who complies with both the following conditions, that is to say:—

(a) is either:—

(i) a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service or apprenticeship with an employer, whether by way of manual labour, clerical work, or otherwise, and whether the contract is expressed or implied or is oral or in writing, or

(ii) a person engaged in plying for hire with any vehicle or vessel the use of which is obtained from the owner thereof under any contract of bailment (other than a hire purchase agreement) in consideration of the payment of a fixed sum or a share in the earnings or otherwise, and

(b) is not an excepted person.

(2) Each of the following persons shall be an excepted person for the purposes of this section, that is to say:—

(a) a person employed otherwise than by way of manual labour whose remuneration exceeds three hundred and fifty pounds a year;

(b) a person whose employment is of a casual nature unless such person is either:—

(i) employed for the purposes of his employer's trade or business, or

(ii) employed for the purposes of any game or recreation and engaged or paid through a club, or

(iii) employed for the purposes of any work in or about the residence of his employer;

(c) a member of the Gárda Síochána;

(d) a member of the Defence Forces of Saorstát Eireann, including a member of the Reserve established under Part III of the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923 (No. 30 of 1923), in respect of any accident arising out of and in the course of his military service or otherwise howsoever under his contract of enlistment;

(e) a person to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented 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;

(f) a member of the employer's family dwelling in his house.

(3) If in the course of any proceedings for the recovery of compensation under this Act it appears to the Court that the contract of service or apprenticeship under which the injured person was working at the time when the accident causing the injury happened was illegal, the Court may, if having regard to all the circumstances of the case it thinks proper so to do, deal with the matter as if the injured person had at the time of such accident been a person working under a valid contract of service or apprenticeship.

(4) References in this Act to a workman who has been injured shall, where the workman is dead, be construed as including references to his legal personal representative, or to his dependants, or other person to whom or for whose benefit compensation is payable.