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Compensation - Employment must 'significantly' contribute to the disease |
A recent court decision has changed the rules on the relevant contribution of work to a disease under the compensation laws. |
Previously, it was necessary only to show a link between one's employment and the disease. |
Employees suffering from a disease now have to prove that, having regard to all relevant contributing factors, their employment significantly contributed to the disease. |
The employment contribution must be "more than a mere contributing factor". It is now necessary for an employee to show that there is a "close connection between the disease and the employment in which he or she was engaged". |
The judge considered the definition of "materially" in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary - "in a material degree, substantially, considerably" - probably captured the essence of what was intended in the law. |
