Schedule 6 - Schedule to be inserted in the Pneumoconiosis Order
Schedule 6 inserts the Schedule in the Pneumoconiosis Order which defines a “relevant employer” as any person by whom the person was employed in a prescribed occupation at any time during the period he was developing the disease and against whom he might have or might have had a claim for damages in respect of the disablement.
The following periods of employment would be disregarded for the purposes of determining whether there is a relevant employer:
those that ended more than 20 years before the date on which the employee’s claim for industrial injuries disablement benefit was determined (or, in the case of a claim from a dependant, where such a date does not exist, from the date of the death of the sufferer); and
in cases of diffuse mesothelioma, any employment which began not more than 15 years before that date.
A person is not a relevant employer if, disregarding the periods of employment mentioned in the previous paragraph, the period during which he employed the person suffering from the disease:
did not exceed 12 months; and
did not exceed 5 years in total and does not represent more than 25 per cent. of the total period during which the person was employed in a prescribed occupation (or 7 years and not more than 20 per cent. of the total period employed in a prescribed occupation).
