Section 10. Notice and claim
(1) No claim for compensation shall be entertained by a Commissioner unless notice of the accident has been given as soon as practicable after it happened and unless the claim is preferred within two years of the occurrence of the accident or, in case of death, within two years from the date of death.
Where the accident is the contracting of a disease under section 3(2), the accident is deemed to have occurred on the first day the employee was continuously absent from work due to the disablement caused by the disease. For partial disablement due to such disease not forcing absence from work, the two-year period runs from the day notice of disablement is given to the employer. Where an employee ceases employment after a qualifying continuous period under section 3(2) and develops symptoms of an occupational disease within two years of cessation, the accident is deemed to have occurred on the day the symptoms were first detected.
Want of, or a defect or irregularity in, a notice shall not bar a claim (a) where death resulted from an accident on the employer’s premises, or a place where the employee was working under the employer’s control, and death occurred there or without the employee having left the vicinity; or (b) where the employer (or a responsible person) had knowledge of the accident from another source at or about the time it occurred. The Commissioner may also entertain a claim despite the notice/claim not being made in time, if satisfied the failure was due to sufficient cause.
(2) Every notice shall give the name and address of the injured person, state in ordinary language the cause of injury and the date of the accident, and shall be served on the employer or a responsible person managing the relevant branch of trade or business.
(3) The State Government may require prescribed classes of employers to maintain a notice-book, in the prescribed form, accessible at all reasonable times to any injured employee or person acting bona fide on his behalf.
(4) A notice under this section may be served by delivery, by registered post to the residence or place of business of the person to be served, or, where a notice-book is maintained, by entry in the notice-book.
