Workmen'S Compensation Act 1952 · Updated to 22 Jul 1982 · Part II · Workmen’S Compensation for Injury
19. Liability in case of workmen employed by contractors
Feedback & supportWhere any person (in this section referred to as “the principal”) in the course of or for the purpose of his trade or business contracts with any other person otherwise than as a tributer
tributer
“tributer” means a person who is permitted to win minerals or produce of any kind from or on the land of another and who, in consideration of such permission, gives a proportion of the minerals or produce so won to that other person or pays to him the value of such proportion; *
(in this section referred to as “the contractor”) for the execution by or under the contractor of the whole or any part of any work undertaken by the principal, the principal shall be liable to pay to any workman employed in the execution of the work any compensation which he would have been liable to pay if that workman had been immediately employed by him and where a claim has been made to the principal for compensation this Act shall apply as if references to the principal were substituted for references to the employer, except that the amount of compensation shall be calculated with reference to the wages of the workman under the employer by whom he is immediately employed.
workman
“workman”, subject to the proviso to this subsection, means any person who has, either before or after the commencement of this Act, entered into or works under a contract of service or of apprenticeship with an employer, whether by way of manual labour or otherwise, whether the contract is expressed or implied or is oral or in writing, whether the remuneration is calculated by time or by work done and whether by the day, week, month or any longer period: Provided that the following persons are excepted from the definition of “workman”— (a) any person employed otherwise than by way of manual labour whose earnings, calculated in accordance with section 9, exceed five hundred ringgit a month; (b) a person whose employment is of casual nature and who is employed otherwise than for the purposes of the employer’s trade or business, not being a person employed for the purposes of any game or recreation and engaged or paid through a club; (c) a domestic servant; (d) any person who is a member of the armed forces or of any visiting force lawfully present in Malaysia; (e) any person in the civil employment of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, or in any other country of the Commonwealth whose contract of service was not made in Malaysia nor in Singapore; (f) a person employed, or selected for employment, in a civil capacity by the Government of Malaysia or by the Government of any State or by any local authority before 1 April 1953 in the application of this Act in Peninsular Malaysia, and before 1 January 1957 in the application of this Act in Sarawak where, in consequence of injury received by any such person in the discharge of his duties, a pension, gratuity or other allowance which would not be payable if such injury were received otherwise is paid to him or, in the case of his death, to any of his dependants as defined in this Act under any written law for the time being in force in Malaysia or any part thereof providing for the grant of such pension, gratuity or other allowance (this paragraph shall not apply in Sabah); (g) any police officer, and any other person engaged to perform police duties in accordance with the provisions of any written law while so performing such duties; (h) an out-worker; (i) a tributer; (j) any member of the family of the employer who dwells with him in his house; *(k) any class of persons whom the Minister may declare not to be workmen for the purposes of this Act. *NOTE—see P.U.…
Where the principal is liable to pay compensation under this section, he shall be entitled to be indemnified by the person who would have been liable to pay compensation to the workman if this section had not been enacted.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing a workman from recovering compensation under this Act from the contractor instead of the principal, and a claim made against a principal or a contractor, as the case may be, shall not bar subsequent proceedings under this Act against the other to recover so much of the compensation agreed or awarded as may remain unpaid.
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This section shall not apply in any case where the accident occurred elsewhere than at or about the place where the principal has undertaken to execute work or which is otherwise under his control or management.