If an employee meets with an accident resulting in their disablement or death such employee or the dependants of such employee shall be entitled to the benefits provided for and prescribed in the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act.
The following TYPES OF COMPENSATION can be claimed:
Medical expenses and conveyance of injured employee;
Temporary Disability (including partial disablement or total disablement);
Permanent Disability - The body will not recover (e.g. loss of an eye) or
Death
In this article. we will focus on Permanent Disability
CALCULATING THE PERCENTAGE OF PERMANENT DISABLEMENT
Disabilities are rated from 1% to 100% depending on seriousness. Seriousness will determine if the employee finds work more difficult to perform or if they will never be able to work again
If an employee has sustained an injury set out in Schedule 2, they shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be “permanently disabled” to the degree set out in the second column of the Schedule.
Examples extracted from Schedule 2:
INJURY | PERCENTAGE OF PERMANENT DISABLEMENT |
Loss of two limbs | 100% |
Loss of both hands | 100% |
Total loss of sight | 100% |
Loss of leg at hip | 70% |
Loss of arm at shoulder | 65% |
Loss of arm at elbow | 55% |
Loss of hearing – both ears | 50% |
Loss of whole eye | 30% |
Loss of index finger | 10% |
Loss of hearing – one ear | 7% |
Note: These are excerpts from Schedule 2 and this does not constitute a comprehensive list.
In relation to injuries to hands and feet, consideration is given to which finger or toe and how many phalanges or phalanx are amputated.
If there are two or more injuries the sum of the percentages for such injuries may be increased at the discretion of the Director General.
COMPENSATION
Compensation for permanent disablement shall be calculated on the basis set out in items 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Schedule 4 subject to a minimum and maximum amount prescribed.
Compensation will be paid out as a lump sum or as a monthly pension. For the purposes of this section "monthly pension" means, where it appears in the relevant items in Schedule 4, a pension payable monthly during the lifetime of the employee and which expires at the end of the month in which the employee dies.
EXAMPLE CALCULATIONS:
Example 1:
An employee, earning R12 000 per month, lost an eye as a result of a workplace injury.
According to Schedule 2: the loss of an eye results in a 30% permanent disablement
According to Schedule 4: a permanent disability of 30% or less entitles an employee to a lump sum payment of 15 times the employee's monthly earnings x the percentage of the disability divided by 30
Calculation:
R12 000 monthly earnings X 15 = R180 000 x 30% disablement and divided by 30 = R180 000
Therefore R180 000 will be paid to the employee as a once-off lump-sum.
Example 2:
An employee, earning R12 000 per month, lost one of his hands at the wrist as a result of a workplace injury.
According to Schedule 2: the loss of a hand at the wrist results in a 50% permanent disablement
According to Schedule 4: a permanent disability of more than 30% but less than 100% entitles an employee to 75% of the employee's monthly earnings x the percentage of the disability paid as a monthly pension.
Calculation:
R12 000 monthly earnings x 75% (75% of earnings) = R9000 R9000 x 50% disability = R 4 500
Therefore R4500 per month will be paid out during the lifetime of the employee expiring at the end of the month in which the employee dies.
Example 3:
An employee, earning R12 000 per month, incurred total and permanent loss of sight as a result of a workplace injury.
According to Schedule 2: the total loss of sight results in a 100% permanent disablement
According to Schedule 4: a permanent disability of 100% would qualify for 75% of the employee's monthly earnings at the time of the accident paid as a monthly pension subject to the minimum and maximums contained in the schedule.
Calculation:
R12 000 monthly earnings x 75% (75% of earnings) = R9000
Therefore R9000 per month will be paid out during the lifetime of the employee and expires at the end of the month in which the employee dies.
AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE:
If an apprentice is injured or the injured employee is under the age of 26. The calculation will be based on the earnings of a person in the same occupation trade or profession with 5 years of experience.
