Dock Work Act 1989

5 Compensation for former registered dock workers who become redundant. E+W+S

(1) The Secretary of State shall by regulations make a scheme providing—

(a) for payments of compensation to be made to persons to whom this section applies by their former registered employers, and

(b) for contributions towards such payments to be made by the Secretary of State;

and section 81 of the M1 Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 (right to redundancy payment) shall not apply to persons to whom this section applies.

(2) This section applies to a person if—

(a) immediately before the date of the passing of this Act he was a permanent worker or a temporarily unattached worker, and

(b) he is, within such period beginning with that date as may be prescribed, dismissed by reason of redundancy by his former registered employer, and

(c) where he is so dismissed at any time after that date, he has been in the employment of that employer since that date.

(3) Regulations under this section may make provision—

(a) for a person falling within subsection (2)(a)—

(i) whose contract of employment with his former registered employer has, as a result of one or more transfers to which the M2 Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 apply, taken effect as a contract of employment with a person other than that employer (“the successor employer”), and

(ii) who is dismissed by reason of redundancy by the successor employer within the period referred to in subsection (2)(b),

to be treated, for the purposes of this section and any scheme made under it, as if he were a person to whom this section applies; and

(b) for the successor employer to be treated, for those purposes, as if he were the former registered employer of that person.

(4) Regulations under this section may, in particular, make provision with respect to—

(a) circumstances in which a person is or is not, for the purposes of this section and any scheme made under it—

(i) to be taken to be dismissed or dismissed by reason of redundancy, or

(ii) to be taken to be dismissed within the period referred to in subsection (2)(b);

(b) any conditions which must be fulfilled by a person to whom this section applies in order for him to be entitled to a compensation payment;

(c) the amounts payable by way of compensation payments and the manner in which they are to be calculated;

(d) the amount payable by the Secretary of State by way of contribution towards any such payment and the manner in which it is to be calculated;

(e) any conditions which must be fulfilled, and the procedure which must be followed, by a person liable to make a compensation payment in order for him to be entitled to receive a contribution towards that payment from the Secretary of State;

(f) the rights and remedies of a person who is entitled to, but has not received, a compensation payment in the event of the insolvency (as defined by the regulations) of the person liable to make it;

(g) the reference to, and determination by, industrial tribunals of questions arising under a scheme under this section;

(h) such incidental, consequential, transitional or supplemental matters as appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of any such scheme.

(5) Regulations under this section may make provision in connection with compensation payments for any of the matters for which provision is made in connection with redundancy payments by—

(a) sections 81 to 102 and 106 to 108 of the 1978 Act, or

(b) Schedule 4 to that Act,

and may do so whether by applying any provision of those sections or that Schedule, subject to any prescribed modifications, or otherwise.

(6) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection (4), any regulations made in pursuance of either of those paragraphs may be framed by reference to any of the following matters, namely—

(a) the age of a person to whom this section applies,

(b) the length of the period of time during which such a person has been continuously employed (as defined in the regulations) as an employee of any prescribed description,

(c) the length of the period of time during which such a person’s name was entered in any statutory register of dock workers,

and any regulations made in pursuance of paragraph (c) of that subsection may provide for the amount payable to a person by way of compensation payment to be abated by reference to the length of the period of time between the date of the passing of this Act and the date of his dismissal by reason of redundancy.

(7) Any regulations made in pursuance of subsection (4)(d) shall require the consent of the Treasury.

(8) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (h) of subsection (4), regulations under this section may provide for the form in which applications are to be made, or other things are to be done, for the purposes of any provision of a scheme under this section to be such as the Secretary of State may direct.

(9) Regulations under this section—

(a) may make different provision for different cases or circumstances; and

(b) may be made so as to have effect as from the date of the passing of this Act or any later date.

(10) The power to make regulations under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(11) The Secretary of State may require the Board to give him such information as he may reasonably require for the purposes of his functions under this section or under any scheme made under it; and section 3(1) shall have effect in relation to any requirement imposed by him under this subsection as it has effect in relation to any directions given by him under section 2(3).

(12) Any sums required by the Secretary of State for making contributions in accordance with a scheme under this section shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament.

(13) In this section—

• “compensation payment” means a payment of compensation in accordance with a scheme under this section;

• “former registered employer”—

(a) in relation to a person who was in the employment of a registered employer immediately before the date of the passing of this Act, means that registered employer;

(b) in relation to a person to whom paragraph 4 of Schedule 2 to this Act applies, means—

(i) the person by whom he is taken to be employed on that date by virtue of sub-paragraph (2) of that paragraph, or

(ii) the person by whom he is treated as dismissed on that date by virtue of sub-paragraph (4) of that paragraph,

as the case may be; and

• “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations under this section.

Marginal Citations

M1 1978 c. 44.

M2 S.I.1981/1794.