1964_EMPLOYEES__COMPENSATION_ORDINANCE — Page 46

1988 Ed.]

Employees' Compensation

[CAP. 282

45

PART III

COMPENSATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES

Compensation in the case of occupational disease

32. (1) If an employee contracts an occupational disease which results in the total or partial incapacity (whether of a permanent or temporary nature) or the death of the employee and is due to the nature of any employment in which the employee was employed at any time within the prescribed period immediately preceding such incapacity or death, whether under one or more employers, then, the employee or his dependants, as the case may be, shall be entitled to compensation under this Ordinance as if such incapacity or death had been caused by an accident arising out of and in the course of employment in respect of which the provisions of section 5 apply, and the provisions of this Ordinance (including in particular section 15) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply thereto, subject to the following modifications----

(a) the incapacity or the death shall be treated as the happening of the accident;

(b) if it is proved that the employee, at the time of entering into the employment, wilfully and with intent to deceive represented in writing that he had not previously suffered from the disease resulting in the incapacity or death, compensation shall not be payable;

(c) subject to subsection (3), the compensation shall be recoverable from the employer who last employed the employee during the prescribed period immediately preceding the incapacity or death in the employment to the nature of which the disease was due;

(d) the amount of the compensation shall be calculated with reference to the earnings of the employee under the employer from whom the compensation is recoverable pursuant to paragraph (c) or subsection (3);

(e) the employer to whom notice of incapacity or death is given shall be the employer who last employed the employee during the prescribed period immediately preceding the incapacity or death in the employment to the nature of which the disease was due, and the notice may be given notwithstanding that the employee has voluntarily left such employer's employment.

(2) Where an employee suffers incapacity or dies as a result of an occupational disease, the employee or his dependants, as the case may be, shall, if so required, furnish to the employer who last employed the employee during the prescribed period immediately preceding the incapacity or death in the employment to the nature of which the occupational disease was due such information as to the names and addresses of all other employers who employed him in such employment during such period as he or they may possess, and, if such information is not furnished or is not sufficient to enable that employer to take proceedings under subsection (3), that employer, upon proving that the disease was not contracted whilst the employee was in his employment, shall not be liable to pay compensation.