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time. This is the situation in Burma, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Thailand, for example, as regards the contingency of employment injury, and it applies also to a number of countries in respect of sickness and maternity protection. In order to obtain an over-all appreciation of the present social security situation in Asia, and to complement the descriptions of each participating country's schemes, it is necessary to make a systematic review and analysis on a regional basis and thus to identify the main regional characteristics. As a factual basis and reference for this study, Appendices I to VII1 are attached summarising the main aspects of selected social security schemes in the region. These appendices contain data in respect of different types of schemes according to the cash benefits provided, employment injury, sickness, maternity, old age, invalidity, survivorship, unemployment and family responsibility respectively, and also the method of their financing.
Employer liability schemes
during
The principle of employer liability for the upkeep and care of workers injury, sickness and maternity may be regarded as a natural obligation of employers upon whom workers are dependent for their livelihood. In the case of employment injury there is a special responsibility upon the employer which has been expressed in legal provisions regarding direct provision of medical care and cash compensation for workers who suffer accidents OF contract diseases as a result of their employment. Examples of employment injury schemes established on this basis are provided by Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Khmer Republic, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Details of some of the schemes are given in Appendix I. It should be made clear that some of these schemes (such as those in Australia and Republic of Korea) stipulate compulsory insurance
by employers with private or public carriers, which, by its guarantee of benefit payments, gives added protection to workers. It is also of considerable significance that because of unsatisfactory features of this type of scheme as it operates in
practice, many countries in the region, such as Burma, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand, have adopted the principle of social insurance which is gradually replacing the employer liability system. This trend is gaining momentum judging from the fact that other countries in the group listed above have reached advanced stages in the planning of the changeover from individual employer liability to a system of pooling of risks and of financial resources.
Responsibility for forms of protection in the case of sickness and maternity is also imposed upon employers through labour legislation in a number of countries (see Appendices II and III). The grant of leave with periodical cash payments of short duration at fixed flat rates or of varying proportions of pay, is subject to appropriate conditions regarding the length of employment with the employer concerned. The maternity benefit also may be restricted to a maximum number of pregnancies (as in the Philippines and Singapore). Both sickness and maternity cash benefits are the direct responsibility of employers in the Peoples Republic of China and in Singapore. The labour code in South Viet-Nam requires employers with large plantations to give sick leave with full and part pay for specified periods. Examples of employment-related paid maternity leave can be found in the case of Khmer Republic, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. In India the principle of employer liability is invoked when workers are laid off for economic reasons and thus become entitled to severance indemnity. Iran requires employers to pay dismissal indemnities and family allowances, and in the Khmer Republic employers have to meet the entire cost of the family allowances programme.
the
In addition to the historical basis for employer liability legislation, its prevalence may also be attributed to the ease with which governments can apply it in contrast to the comprehensive difficulties and expense they face in designing, planning, organising and implementing social insurance schemes with the sane coverage of protected persons. The latter operation may take some years and the fact that it is increasingly being undertaken points to the growing realisation of both the inadequacies of employer liability schemes and the efficacy of social insurance principles.
1 Appendices are contained in document ASS/II/2/1974.
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