Workmen’s compensation before SOCSO

Before the SOCSO Act 1969 was enacted, Malaysian employees were covered by the Workmen’s Compensation Act. This Act was inherited by us from UK legislation that was extended to the colonies and provided some measure of relief to employees injured at work.

One day, while at work a young man came to the office complaining that his employer had refused to pay him compensation though he had injured himself at work. I took down his statement and assured him that we would call up the employer to find out why he was not paying him compensation, as assessed by the local office.

When we called the employer up, he said he was insured and the Insurance Company had refused payment when the assessment was sent to them. I then wrote to the insurance company for an explanation. They replied that according to the medical report from the doctor, the workman was injured at work but he did not suffer injuries that prevented him from doing his normal work. I took a look at the report and it was clear he had met with an accident at work which had caused injuries to his private parts. The report indicated that although he had been rendered impotent as a result of his injuries, this did not prevent him from carrying on his duties as a welder.

I advised him that a claim under the Workmen’s Compensation Act would not provide him the relief he was seeking and he should engage legal counsel and sue for damages under common law if indeed the employer had not provided a safe environment at the workplace. He was unhappy, as a common law claim would take years and he would need to engage a lawyer to pursue his claim, besides having to prove the employer’s negligence, which could be a tricky situation.

He then left reluctantly to engage a lawyer to progress his claim under common law.

All contents (c) Ganapathy Ramasamy, mynameisgana@blogspot.com

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