Cabinet nod to amend Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance

• Move to increase compensation given to workers who are injured in the line of duty

By Uditha Jayasinghe 

In a bid to increase compensation paid to workers regarding workplace accidents, the Government has decided to amend the Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance with the Legal Draftsmen’s recommendations receiving Cabinet approval this week. 

Changing the Ordinance was included in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election manifesto, Cabinet Spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said; adding that the Cabinet had approved the amendments proposed by the Legal Draftsmen.    

Accordingly, the Legal Draftsmen has drafted a bill to amend the applicable provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance to increase the amount of compensation paid to the employees that face accidents and are injured while on duty. 

“There have been efforts to significantly increase the amount of compensation that workers are eligible for. These include the increase of compensation mentioned in the Ordinance under different categories. For example, the minimum salary applicable for compensation has been increased from Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 10,000 and maximum salary has been increased from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 100,000.” Minister Rambukwella said.

The legal draftsmen has also increased the fine of Rs. 1,000 that can be imposed in terms of the provisions prevailing to the date at the instances in which an employer does not furnish a compensation statement to the Commissioner of Compensation with regard to a particular accident caused to an employee in terms of Section 42 of the Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance.

Other amendments include increasing death compensation from a range of Rs. 181, 665 to Rs. 550,000 to Rs. 1.14 million to Rs. 2 million and raising the temporary compensation Rs. 5,500 to Rs. 47,500 depending on the worker’s salary. If a worker is injured the compensation has also been increased to a range of Rs. 1.2 million to Rs. 2 million. 

The amendments also assign the compensation recovery process of confiscating the property to the Fiscal/Registrar attached to the office of the Commissioner of Compensation in order to accelerate the compensation process.