Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “adult” and “minor” mean respectively a person who is not and a person who is under the age of eighteen years; “dependants” means such of the members of a workman’s family as were wholly or in part dependent upon the wages of the workman at the time of his death, or would but for the incapacity due to the accident have been so dependent, and where the workman being the parent or grandparent of an illegitimate child leaves such a child so dependent upon his wages or, being an illegitimate child, leaves a parent or grandparent so dependent upon his wages, shall include such an illegitimate child and parent or grandparent respectively, but a person shall not be deemed a partial dependent of another person unless he was dependent partially on contributions from that other person for the provision of the ordinary necessaries of life suitable for persons in his class and position; “employer” includes the Government of Belize and any person or body of persons corporate or un-incorporate and the legal personal representative of a deceased employer, and, where the services of a workman are temporarily lent or let on hire to another person by the person with whom the workman has entered into a contract of service or apprenticeship the latter shall for the purposes of this Act except as is provided in section 22 (1) of this Act, be deemed to continue to be the employer of the workman whilst he is working for that other In relation to a person engaged in plying for hire with any vehicle or vessel, the use of which is obtained by that person under a contract of bailment (other than a hire purchase agreement) the person from whom the use of the vehicle or vessel is so obtained shall be deemed to be the employer. In relation to a person employed for the purposes of any game or recreation and engaged or paid by a club, the manager or members of the managing committee of the club shall for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the employer; “Labour Commissioner” includes the person from time to time in charge of the Labour Department; “manager”, in relation to a ship, means the ship’s husband or other person to whom the management of the ship is entrusted by or on behalf of the owner; “medical practitioner” means a person registered under the Medical Practitioners’ Registration Act or any Act, Cap. 318 thereby repealed, and includes a Government Medical Officer; “member of a family” means wife or husband, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, 8 brother, sister, half-brother, half- sister, niece or nephew and shall include any child or children, not specifically mentioned, living with the deceased at the time of his death and wholly or mainly dependent upon his earnings and such other person as was at the time of the injury living in the household of the worker and was wholly or mainly dependent upon his earnings; “partial incapacity” means, where the incapacity is of a temporary nature, such incapacity as reduces the earning capacity of a workman in any employment in which he was engaged at the time of the accident resulting in the incapacity, and where the incapacity is of a permanent nature, such incapacity as reduces his earning capacity in every employment which he was capable of undertaking at that time, but all injuries specified in the First Schedule shall be deemed to result in permanent partial incapacity; “personal injury by accident” includes snakebite; “scheduled disease” means any occupational disease specified in the Second Schedule; “ship”, “vessel”, “seaman” and “port” have the same meaning as in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, c. 60; “total incapacity” means such incapacity whether of a temporary or permanent nature, as incapacitates a workman for all work which he was capable of performing at the time of the accident resulting in such incapacity. Permanent total incapacity shall be deemed to result from the permanent total loss of the sight of both eyes or from any combination of injuries specified in the First Schedule where the aggregate percentage of the loss of earning capacity, as specified in the First Schedule against those injuries, amounts to one hundred per centum; “wages” includes any privilege or benefit which is capable of being estimated in money, other than a travelling allowance or the value of any travelling concession or a contribution paid by the employer of a workman towards any pension or provident fund or a sum paid to a workman to cover any special expenses entailed on him by the nature of his employment, or remuneration for overtime not habitually performed or remunerated at a special rate; In the case of temporary disablement, the privileges and benefits which the injured workman or any of his dependents continue to enjoy during the period of the disablement shall not be deemed to be benefits for the purpose of calculating wages; “workman”, subject to the exceptions mentioned in this section, means any person who has entered into or works under a contract of service or apprenticeship with an employer, whether by way of manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, and whether the contract is expressed or implied, is oral or in writing and whether the remuneration is calculated by time or by work done; (and also includes a person engaged in fishing on board any fishing vessel or plying for hire with any vehicle or vessel, the use of which is obtained by that person under any contract of bailment (other than a hire-purchase agreement) in consideration of the payment of a fixed sum or a share in the earnings or otherwise). The following persons shall be excepted from the definition of (a) any person employed otherwise than by way of manual labour whose earnings, calculated in accordance with the provisions of section 11, exceed four thousand dollars a year; (b) a person whose employment is of a 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; 10 (c) an outworker, that is to say, a person to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished or repaired or adapted for sale in his own home or on other premises not under the control or management of the person who gave out the articles or materials; (d) a member of the Belize Police Department; (e) a person in the civil employment of the Public Service otherwise than in the Government of Belize who had been engaged in a place outside Belize; (f) a person in the naval, military or air services of the Government; (g) a member of the employer’s family dwelling in his house. (2) Any reference to a workman who has been injured shall, where the workman is dead include a reference to his legal personal representative or to his dependents or other person to whom or for whose benefit compensation is payable. (3) If on any proceedings for the recovery of compensation under this Act it appears to the court by which the claim for compensation is to be settled that the contract of service or apprenticeship under which the injured person was working at the time when the accident causing the injury happened, was illegal, the court shall, if having regard to all the circumstances of the case it thinks proper to do so, deal with the matter as if the injured person had at the time of the accident been a person working under a valid contract of service or apprenticeship. (4) The exercise and performance of the powers and duties of a department of Government or of a local authority shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the trade or business of the Government department or the local authority.