EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION ACT COMMENCES …EMPLOYERS TO CONTRIBUTE 1% OF STAFF TOTAL MONTHLY PAY
By Victor Ahiuma-Young Six months after the Employees'Compensation Act, ECA, was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan, to among others, compensate employees for injuries sustained at work, including death, the Act has finally taken off.
ECA which repealed the Workmen Compensation Act that was introduced into the nation's industrial relations practice under the colonial period, Financial Vanguard gathered, commenced Friday, July 1, 2011. With the commencement, all employers of labour are mandated by the law to contribute one per cent of staff total monthly pay into a pool of fund designed for the scheme.
Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, which is statutorily empowered to administer and supervise the scheme, said the July 1 take-off date was arrived at after relevant stakeholders had been consulted and consensus reached to the effect that remittances by employers would commence on the said date.
Financial Vanguard gathered that 'within the first two years of the commencement of the scheme (2011 to 2012), minimum monthly contribution shall be at the rate of 1 per cent of the total monthly payroll. Section 33 of the Act mandated the Board to review and classify employers according to their risk profile.
This means that after two years, there will be a review and classification of employers to reflect their risk status. This will be undertaken in consultation with all relevant stakeholders.'
Giving details of the scheme's cash and non-cash benefits, the management of NSITF in a statement, said: 'The cash benefits include: Compensation for injuries occurring in the normal workplace; for mental stress; for hearing impairment and for injuries occurring outside the normal workplace.
In fatal cases (death), as much as 90 per cent of the total remuneration of the deceased employee is paid to the dependant of the deceased (widow/widower/children etc.); until the occurrence of certain events specified by the Act.
Non-cash benefits include: Provision of artificial appliances including artificial limbs where necessary, vocational, rehabilitation and counselling services to injured employee with a view to bringing the employee back to work.
The scale of compensation has been actually determined for claims on partial disability, permanent disability, temporary disability and death.'
On modalities for reporting cases of injury, it said these had been adequately described in the Act and the obligation of every employer/employee had been clearly set out.
According to the statement, 'Information required shall include the name of the employer, the time and place of the occurrence. In the case of a disabling occupational disease, the employer to be informed of the death or disability is the employer who last employed the employee.