Amendments in the Workmen’s Compensation Act

Amendments in the Workmen’s Compensation Act

Workmen’s Compensation (Amendment) Bill, 2009 has been passed by both the Houses of the Parliament. It is to take form of an Act after getting the President’s assent.

The main recommendations of the Bill were –

• Renaming the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923 as the Employee’s Compensation Act to make it gender sensitive.
• Raising the compensation paid to the workers and their family members in case of death to Rs. 1.2 lakh from current Rs. 80,000.
• Raising the compensation for permanent disability to Rs. 1.4 lakh from present Rs. 90,000. Also the funeral expenses were proposed to be raised to Rs. 5,000 from Rs. 2,500.

The Bill also proposed to empower the Central Government to specify monthly wages for the purpose of compensation and timely enhancement of the minimum rates of compensation.

Besides this the Bill even contained a provision for actual reimbursement of medical expenses incurred on account of injury caused during course of employment. There were provisions for disposal of compensation cases by Commission within a time period of 3 months.

Click Here To Download Amendments in the Workmen Compensation Act