Section 29: Liability to pay compensation

(1) Subject to subsection (5), compensation shall be payable by the employer who last employed the worker during the period of twenty-four months referred to in section 27(1)(b) unless that employer proves that the disease was not contracted while the worker was in his or her or its employment. (2) The worker or his or her dependants shall, if required by the employer from whom compensation is claimed, provide the information they have as to the identity and location of all other employers of the worker during the period of twenty-four months referred to in section 27(1)(b). (3) If the employer alleges that the disease was in fact contracted while the worker was in the employment of another employer and not while in his or her or its employment, the employer may join the other employer as a party to the proceedings in the manner provided by rules of court made under section 34; and, if the allegation is proved, the other employer shall be the employer from whom the compensation is to be recoverable. (4) If the claim is in respect of a disease which is contracted by a gradual process, every other employer who employed the worker during the period of twenty-four months referred to in section 27(1)(b), if the employment was in an occupation which is likely to have caused the disease from which the worker suffers or has suffered, is liable to make a contribution to the employer in respect of whom compensation is recovered; the amount of the contribution shall, if the parties fail to agree, be settled by civil suit or by consensual arbitration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. (5) The Minister may, by statutory instrument, order medical examination of certain categories of workers. (6) Where, in respect of any scheduled disease which manifests itself during or after several years of employment, compensation is payable under this section to a worker who was successively employed by more than one employer, if it is not possible to determine which of those employers is solely liable to pay the compensation, then each employer shall contribute the sum which in the opinion of the Commissioner for labour is appropriate, given the period of employment of the worker with each of the different employers.