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7 1942

INSURANCE (INTERMITTENT UNEMPLOYMENT) ACT, 1942

PART VII.

Miscellaneous Provisions.

Provisions in relation to excepted persons whose employment is terminated.

50. —Where a person (in this sub-section referred to as the employer) terminates the employment in an insurable employment of a person (in this sub-section referred to as the employee) who immediately before such termination was an excepted person, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) in case the employee was an excepted person during the twelve weeks immediately preceding such termination, the employer shall pay to the Minister, in respect of such twelve weeks, a sum equal to the amount of the weekly contributions which would, if the employee had not been an excepted person during the said twelve weeks, have been payable in respect of the employee under this Act for the said twelve weeks;

(b) in case the employee was not an excepted person during the twelve weeks immediately preceding such termination, the employer shall pay to the Minister, in respect of the weeks immediately preceding such termination during which the employee was an excepted person, a sum equivalent to the amount of the weekly contributions which would, if the employee had not been an excepted person during those weeks, have been payable under this Act in respect of the employee for those weeks;

(c) no part of any sum paid by the employer under this sub-section shall be recoverable by the employer from the employee;

(d) any sum payable to the Minister by the employer under this section shall, for the purposes of the other provisions (including penal provisions) of this Act, be deemed to be weekly contributions, and those provisions shall apply accordingly;

(e) any sum recovered by or paid to the Minister under this section shall be paid into the Supplementary Unemployment Fund;

(f) any sums recovered by or paid to the Minister under this section in respect of any weeks shall, for the purposes of the first statutory condition, be deemed to be weekly contributions paid under Part III of this Act in respect of the employee for those weeks.

Offences.

51. —(1) If for the purpose of obtaining any supplementary benefit or payment or repayment under this Act, either for himself or for any other person or for the purpose of avoiding any payment to be made by himself under this Act or enabling any other person to avoid any such payment, any person knowingly makes any false statement or false representation, or conceals any material fact, such person shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds.

(2) If—

(a) any employer or insured person has failed or neglected to pay any weekly contributions which he is liable under this Act to pay, or

(b) any employer or insured person or any other person is guilty of any contravention of or non-compliance with any of the requirements of this Act or the regulations made thereunder in respect of which no special penalty is provided, or

(c) any employer deducts or attempts to deduct from the wages or other remuneration of an insured person, the whole or any part of the employer's contribution,

such person shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

(3) Where an employer has been convicted under sub-section (2) of this section of the offence of failing or neglecting to pay any weekly contributions which he is liable under this Act to pay, he shall be liable to pay to the Supplementary Unemployment Fund a sum equal to the amount which he has so failed or neglected to pay, and on such a conviction, if notice of the intention to do so has been served with the summons or warrant, evidence may be given of the failure or neglect on the part of the employer to pay other weekly contributions in respect of the same person during the three years preceding the date when the information was so laid, and on proof of such failure or neglect the employer shall be liable to pay to the Supplementary Unemployment Fund a sum equal to the total of all the weekly contributions which he is so proved to have failed or neglected to pay.

Any sum paid by an employer under this sub-section shall be treated as a payment in satisfaction of the unpaid weekly contributions, and the insured person's portion of those weekly contributions shall not be recoverable by the employer from the insured person.

(4) Every person—

(a) who buys, sells, or offers for sale, takes or gives in exchange or pawns or takes in pawn any supplementary unemployment card, supplementary unemployment book or used supplementary insurance stamp, or

(b) who attempts to evade payment of a weekly contribution by affixing or attempting to affix to any supplementary unemployment book or supplementary unemployment card a used supplementary insurance stamp which has been removed either by him or by some other person from any supplementary unemployment book or supplementary unemployment card or from any other material to which it was affixed or which has been previously used in any other manner,

shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and in any proceedings under this sub-section with respect to used stamps, a stamp shall be deemed to have been used if it has been cancelled or defaced in any way whatever or if it has been removed from any supplementary unemployment book or supplementary unemployment card or any other material to which it was affixed and whether it has been actually used for the purpose of payment of a weekly contribution or not.

(5) Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing the Minister from recovering by means of civil proceedings any sums due to the Supplementary Unemployment Fund and all such sums shall be recoverable as debts due to the State and without prejudice to any other remedy may be recovered by the Minister as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(6) In any proceedings under this section or in any proceedings involving any question as to the payment of weekly contributions under this Act or for the recovery of any sums due to the Supplementary Unemployment Fund, the decision of the Minister on any question whether a person is or was an insured person within the meaning of this Act or not or as to who was the employer of an insured person, or as to the rate of weekly contribution to be paid in respect of an insured person shall, unless an appeal against the decision is pending or the time for appealing against the decision has not expired, be conclusive for the purpose of those proceedings and, if such a decision has not been obtained and the decision of the question is necessary for the determination of the proceedings, the question shall be referred to the Minister for decision in accordance with the provisions of this Act and where any such appeal is pending or the time for so appealing has not expired or any question has been so referred to the Minister, the court dealing with the case shall adjourn the proceedings until such time as a final decision on the question has been obtained.

(7) Any sum that an employer is liable to pay under sub-section (3) of this section or any sum due to the Supplementary Unemployment Fund for which a court has made an order for payment may, without prejudice to other methods of recovery, be deducted by the Minister from any sums payable out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund to such employer under this Act and any amounts so deducted shall be paid by the Minister into the Supplementary Unemployment Fund.

Prosecutions.

52. —(1) Proceedings for an offence under this Act shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Minister or by an inspector or other officer appointed for the purpose of this Act and authorised in that behalf by special or general directions of the Minister.

(2) A prosecution for an offence under any section of this Act may be brought at the suit of the Minister.

(3) A prosecution for an offence under any section of this Act may be brought at any time within whichever of the following periods later expires, that is to say:—

(a) three months after the date on which it is certified in writing sealed with the official seal of the Minister, that evidence sufficient to justify the institution of such prosecution came into the possession or procurement of the Minister, or

(b) one year after the commission of the offence.

Civil proceedings against employer.

53. —(1) Where any employer has failed or neglected to pay any weekly contributions which under this Act he is liable to pay in respect of any insured person in his employment or has failed or neglected to comply in relation to any such person with any other requirements of this Act and the regulations made thereunder and by reason thereof that person has lost in whole or in part the supplementary benefit to which he would have been entitled under this Act he shall be entitled to recover from the employer as a simple contract debt a sum equal to the amount of the supplementary benefit so lost.

(2) Proceedings may be taken under this section notwithstanding that proceedings have been taken under any other provision of this Act in respect of the same failure or neglect.

Proof of age and death.

54. —Where for the purposes of this Act the age or death of any person is required to be proved by the production of a certificate of birth or death, any person shall, on presenting a written requisition in such form and containing such particulars as the Minister for Local Government and Public Health may direct and on payment of a fee, in the case of a birth certificate, of sixpence and, in the case of a death certificate, of one shilling, be entitled to obtain a certified copy of the entry of the birth or death as the case may be of such first-mentioned person in the register of births or deaths as the case may be, under the hand of the registrar or superintendent registrar or other person having custody thereof and forms for such requisition shall, on request, be supplied without any charge by every registrar of births and deaths and by every superintendent registrar or other person having custody of the register.

Exemption of documents from stamp duty.

55. —Stamp duties shall not be chargeable upon documents used in connection with business under this Act.

Power to remove difficulties.

56. —(1) If in any respect any difficulty arises in bringing into operation this Act or any provision thereof, the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may by order do anything which appears to him necessary or expedient for bringing this Act or such provision into operation, and any such order may modify the provisions of this Act so far as may appear to the Minister necessary or expedient for carrying the order into effect.

(2) No order may be made under this section after two years from the date on which the whole of this Act has come into operation.