Section 21
Section 21
Where any injury for which compensation is payable was caused under circumstances creating a legal liability in some person other than the employer to pay damages in respect thereof -
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Workmen's Compensation
(a)
the workman may take proceedings against that person to recover damages and may claim against any person liable to pay compensation but he shall not be entitiled to recover both damages and compensation; and
(b)
if the workman has recovered compensa-tion, the person by whom the compensation was paid, and any person who has been called upon to pay an indemnity under subsection (2) of section 20, shall be entitled to be indemnified by the per-son so liable to pay damages as aforesaid and all questions as to the right to and amount of any such indemnity may, in default of agreement, be settled by an arbitrator.
31 22.
(1)
Where any employer has entered into a contract Bankruptcy with any insurers in respect of any liability under this Act to of employer any workman, then
(a)
in the event of the employer becoming bankrupt or making a composition or scheme of arrangement with his creditors,
(b)
where the employer has died and an admi-nistration order is made under the provisions of any written law relating to bankruptcy from time to time in force in Brunei and any debt provable in bankruptcy is owing to a workman by him in re-spect of a liability to pay compensation against which he is insured, or
(c)
if the employer is a company, in the event of the company having commenced to be wound up or a receiver or manager of the company's business or undertaking having been duly appointed or pos-session having been taken by or on behalf of the holders of debentures secured by a floating charge
B.L.R.O.JI1984
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CAP. 74 ·
Workmen's Compensation of any property comprised in or subject to the charge, the rights of the employer against the insurers as respecting that liability shall, notwithstanding anything in any written law relating to bankruptcy or the winding-up of companies for the time being in force in Brunei or any part part there-of, be transferred to and vest in the workman, and upon any such transfer the insurers shall have the same rights and remedies and be subject to the same liabilities as if they were the employer:
Provided that the insurers shall not be under any greater liability to the workman than they would have been under to the employer had the transfer not happened.
(2)
If the liability of the insurers to the workman is less that the liability of the employer to the workman, the workman may prove for the balance in the bankruptcy or liquidation or, as the case may be, he may recover the ba-lance from the receiver or manager.
(3)
Where in any case such as is referred to in sub-section (1) the contract of the employer with the insurers is void or voidable by reason of non-compliance on the part of the employer with any terms or conditions of the contract
(other than a stipulation for the payment of premia), the provisions of that subsection shall apply as if the contract were not void or voidable, and the insurers shall be entitled to prove in the bankruptcy or liquidation for the amount paid to the workman:
Provided that the provisions of this subsection shall not apply in any case in which the workman fails to give notice to the insurers of the happening of the accident and of any resulting incapacity as soon as practicable after he becomes aware of the institution of the bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings and that the employer was insured and with whom.
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Workmen's Compensation
(4)
There shall be included-
(a)
amongst the debts which under the provi-sions of any written law relating to bankruptcy from time to time in force in Brunei are in the distribution of the property or assets of a bank-ruptcy to be paid in priority of all other debts the amount due in respect of any compensation or liability for compensation accrued before the date of the receiving order, adjudication order or admi-nistration order, as the case may be, and such amount shall take priority after the amount due for salaries and wages; and
(b)
amongst the debts which under any written law governing the winding-up of companies are in the winding-up of a company to be paid in priority to all other debts the amount due in respect of any compensation or liability for compensation accrued before the date of the commencement of the winding-up of the company.
(5)
Where the compensation is a periodical payment the amount due in respect thereof shall, for the purposes of this section, be taken to be the amount of the lump sum into which the periodical payment could, if commutable, be commuted if application were made for the purpose under section 18 and a certificate of the Commissioner as to the amount of such sum shall be conclusive proof thereof.
(6)
The provisions of subsection (4) shall apply in the case of any amount for which an insurer is entitled to prove under subsection (3), but otherwise those provisions shall not apply where the bankrupt or the company being wound up has entered into such a contract with insurers as is referred to in subsection (1).
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Special provi-sions relating to seamen
Workmen's Compensation
(7)
This section shall not apply where a company is wound up voluntarily for purposes only of reconstruction or of amalgamation with another company.