Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 This Act may be cited as the Workers' Compensation Act.

2 In this Act,

(a) "accident" includes

(i) a wilful and intentional act, not being the act of the worker claiming compensation,

(ii) a chance event occasioned by a physical or natural cause, or

(iii) disablement, including occupational disease, arising out of and in the course of employment,

but does not include stress other than an acute reaction to a traumatic event;

(b) "Accident Fund" means the fund provided for the payment of any compensation or other expenditures made pursuant to Part I;

(c) "Appeals Tribunal" means the Workers' Compensation Appeals Tribunal established pursuant to this Act;

(d) "assessment" includes any assessment, part of an assessment, penalty or other amount that may be collected in the same manner as an assessment may be collected, and any cost of enforcing the assessment or entering judgment;

(e) "Board" means the Workers' Compensation Board of Nova Scotia;

(f) "Board of Directors" means the Board of Directors established pursuant to Section 151;

(g) "Canada Pension Plan" means the pension plan established by the Canada Pension Plan;

(h) "child" includes a child born outside marriage, a grandchild, a child of a spouse by a former marriage and a child to whom a worker stands in loco parentis;

(i) "class of employer" includes any class of employer determined by the Board;

(j) "collateral benefits" means

(i) any periodic benefit the worker is entitled to receive or is receiving pursuant to the Unemployment Insurance Act (Canada), payable in connection with the injury for which compensation is payable pursuant to Part I of this Act,

(ii) any payment to the worker by the worker's employer, including any benefit, gratuity or allowance, payable in connection with the injury for which compensation is payable pursuant to Part I of this Act, or

(iii) any other benefit the Board may prescribe by regulation;

(k) "day" includes a shift;

(l)"dependant" means a member of the family of a worker who was wholly or substantially dependent upon the worker's earnings at the time of the worker's injury or death, or who, but for the loss of earnings due to the injury or death, would have been so dependent;

(m) "Director" means a member of the Board of Directors, and includes the Chair and the Deputy Chair of the Board;

(n) "employer" means an employer within the scope of Part I and includes

(i) every person having in the person's service under a contract of hiring or apprenticeship, written or oral, express or implied, any person engaged in any work in or about an industry within the scope of Part I,

(ii) the principal, contractor and subcontractor referred to in Sections 140 and 141,

(iii) a receiver, liquidator, executor or administrator and any person appointed by a court, who has authority to carry on the business of an employer,

(iv) a municipal corporation,

(v) a public service commission,

(vi) any person who authorizes or permits a learner to be in or about an industry for the purpose described in clause (q),

(vii) Her Majesty in right of the Province,

(viii) Her Majesty in right of Canada in so far as Her Majesty submits to the operation of Part I,

(ix) any person operating a boat, vessel, ship, dredge, tug, scow or other craft usually employed or intended to be employed in an industry to which Part I applies and, with respect to the industry of fishing, the owner or operator of a boat or vessel rented, chartered or otherwise provided to a worker employed in the fishing industry and used in or in connection with an industry carried on by the employer to which Part I applies, and

(x) in relation to a particular employer, the whole or any part of any establishment, undertaking, work, operation, trade or business within the scope of Part I;

(o) "extended earnings-replacement benefit" means an earnings-replacement benefit payable to a worker from the later of

(i) the date on which the Board determines the worker has a permanent impairment pursuant to Section 34, and

(ii) the date on which the worker completes a rehabilitation program pursuant to Section 112, where the worker is engaged in a rehabilitation program on or after the date the Board determines the worker has a permanent impairment pursuant to Section 34;

(p) "injury" means personal injury, but does not include any type or class of personal injury excluded by regulation pursuant to Section 10;

(q) "learner" means

(i) an apprentice, or

(ii) any person who, although not under a contract of service or apprenticeship, becomes subject to the hazards of any industry to which Part I applies for the purpose of undergoing testing, training or probationary work as a preliminary to employment;

(r) "medical aid" includes

(i) any health care service, product or device that may be authorized by the Board and is provided to a worker as a result of a compensable injury, including those forms and reports required by the Board respecting the aid or services, and

(ii) reasonable expenses, authorized by the Board, incurred by a worker in order to obtain medical aid;

(s) "member of the family" means a worker's spouse, parent, grandparent, stepparent, child, grandchild, stepchild, brother, sister, half-brother or half-sister, or a person who stands in loco parentis to the worker or to whom the worker stands in loco parentis;

(t) "Minister" means the Minister of Labour;

(u) "municipality" means a city, incorporated town, municipality of a county or district or a regional municipality;

(v) "occupational disease" means a disease arising out of and in the course of employment and resulting from causes or conditions

(i) peculiar to or characteristic of a particular trade or occupation, or

(ii) peculiar to the particular employment,

(w) "person" includes a partnership;

(x) "pneumonoconiosis" means permanent alteration of lung structure due to the inhalation of dust and the tissue reactions of the lung to its presence;

(y) "principal" includes a person engaged in the manufacture, purchase or sale of forest products who finances, in whole or in part, the operations of another person in the lumbering industry;

(z) "Quebec Pension Plan" means the Quebec Pension Plan established pursuant to Chapter R-9 of the Revised Statutes of Quebec, 1977, as amended;

(aa) "regulation" means a regulation made or approved by the Governor in Council pursuant to Section 184;

(ab) "spouse" includes a person who, not being married to a worker,

(i) was wholly or substantially dependent upon the worker's earnings at the time of the worker's injury or death, or who, but for the loss of earnings due to the injury or death, would have been so dependent, and

(ii) cohabited with the worker as husband and wife at the time of the worker's injury or death and immediately prior to the worker's injury or death for a period of at least twelve continuous months;

(ac) "subclass of employer" includes any subclass of employer determined by the Board;

(ad) "temporary earnings-replacement benefit" means any earnings-replacement benefit payable to a worker prior to the date on which an extended earnings-replacement benefit, if any, becomes payable;

(ae) "worker" means a worker within the scope of Part I, and includes

(i) a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service or apprenticeship, written or oral, express or implied,

(ii) an officer, director or manager of an employer, where the person is actively engaged in the business and is carried on the payroll of the business at the person's actual earnings,

(iii) a learner,

(iv) a student admitted pursuant to Section 6,

(v) a member of a municipal volunteer fire department admitted pursuant to Section 5,

(vi) in respect of the industry of fishing, a person who becomes a member of the crew of a vessel under any profit-sharing arrangement,

(vii) in respect of the industry of mining, a person while actually engaged in taking or attending a course of training or instruction in mine rescue work under the direction or with the approval, express or implied, of an employer in whose employment the person is employed as a worker in that industry,

(viii) in respect of any industry, a person while actually engaged in rescuing or protecting or attempting to rescue or protect life or property in the case of an explosion, a fire or other emergency, that endangers either life or property in or about the industry in which the person is employed,

(ix) any other person who, pursuant to Part I, the regulations or an order of the Board, is deemed to be a worker, and

(x) in relation to compensation payable to a dependant, a dependant,

but, subject to Section 4, does not include

(xi) a receiver, liquidator or other person appointed by a court or a judge with power to manage or carry on the business of an employer for winding-up or other purposes,

(xii) an employer, or

(xiii) a member of the family of an employer or a member of the family of a director of a corporation who

(A) is employed by the employer or the corporation, and

(B) lives with the employer or director as a member of the employer's or director's household.

(2) The Governor in Council may, by regulation, exclude any employer, class of employer, or class of worker engaged in, about or in connection with any industry prescribed pursuant to subsection (1).

(3) A class of employer prescribed pursuant to subsection (2) may include a class of employer employing fewer than the prescribed number of workers.

(4) A class of workers prescribed pursuant to subsection (2) may include classes based on

(a) the nature of work or duties;

(b) the nature of the business or undertaking;

(c) a geographical area within which work is performed;

(d) the source of remuneration;

(e) the method by which workers are assigned to places to perform work;

(f) a description of any program or scheme in which work is performed; or

(g) any one or more of the factors described in clauses (a) to (f).

(2) The Board may, on the application of an independent contractor, admit the independent contractor to the operation of this Part as if the independent contractor were a worker where the independent contractor performs work, the nature of which falls within the scope of this Part.

(3) Where an independent contractor is admitted to the operation of this Part, the independent contractor is

(a) a worker in so far as this Part applies to workers employed by an employer; and

(b) an employer, in so far as this Part applies to employers of a worker.

(4) In this Section, "independent contractor" means a person who is not an employer or a worker but who performs work that, if the person were a worker other than by operation of subsection (3), would be within the scope of this Part.

(5) The Board may, on the application of a person who is an employer but who is not a worker within the meaning of this Part, determine that that person is a worker within the operation of this Part and entitled to compensation pursuant to this Part.

(6) The Board may, on the application of an employer, admit to the operation of this Part a person referred to in subclause 2(ae)(xiii).

(7) The Board may admit a person to the operation of this Part pursuant to subsection (1), (2), (5) or (6) subject to any terms of admission that, in the opinion of the Board, are necessary or expedient.

(2) Where the Board admits a volunteer fire department pursuant to subsection (1),

(a) the members of the volunteer fire department are workers; and

(b) the municipality is the employer of the members of the volunteer fire department,

for the purpose of this Part.

(3) The members of a volunteer fire department shall be considered to be in the course of their employment from the time they

(a) arrive at the place where a training exercise begins until the exercise has been completed; or

(b) receive a notification, by any means, of a fire or emergency, including the time of travel to the fire station, fire scene or the site of the emergency where they perform duties until, after being released from duty, they return home, to the place where the notification was received, to their place of regular employment or to any place for treatment, refreshment or recreation, whichever they reach first.

(4) The Board shall, by regulation, determine the minimum and maximum earnings of the members of the volunteer fire department for the purpose of calculating the average earnings of the volunteer fire department pursuant to subsection (5).

(5) The municipality deemed to be the employer of a volunteer fire department pursuant to subsection (2) shall choose an amount between the minimum and maximum amounts determined by the Board pursuant to subsection (4) to apply as the average earnings for the members of the volunteer fire department.

(6) The amount chosen by a municipality pursuant to subsection (5) applies to every member of that municipality's volunteer fire

(7) The municipality deemed to be the employer of a volunteer fire department pursuant to subsection (2) shall notify the Board of

(a) the number of members in the municipality's volunteer fire department; and

(b) the average earnings of the members of the volunteer fire department for the purpose of this Part.

(a) a school as defined in the Education Act;

(b) a vocational school, regional vocational school, technical institution, or any educational facility under the supervision and management of the Minister of Education; or

(c) a community college as defined in the Community College Act,

to the application of this Part.

(2) Where the Governor in Council admits any student to the application of this Part pursuant to subsection (1),

(a) the student is a worker for the purpose of this Part; and

(b) the Board shall fix an amount that shall be deemed to be the student's average earnings for the purpose of this Part.

(3) Where a student is admitted to the application of this Part pursuant to subsection (1), the assessment determined by the Board shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the Province.

(4) On the application of an educational facility other than an educational facility referred to in subsection (1), the Board may admit any student of the facility to the application of this Part.

(5) Where the Board admits any student to the application of this Part pursuant to subsection (4),

(a) the student is a worker for the purpose of this Part; and

(b) the Board shall fix an amount that shall be deemed to be the student's average earnings for the purpose of this Part.

(6) Where a student is admitted to the application of this Part, pursuant to subsection (4), the assessment determined by the Board shall be paid by the student's educational facility or in the manner prescribed by the Governor in Council by regulation.

(a) a municipality; and

(b) any commission or board having the management and conduct of any work or service owned or operated by a municipality,

is, for the purpose of this Part, the trade or business of the municipality, commission or board.

(a) the worker continues to be the worker of the employer for the purpose of this Part, while the worker is working for the other person;

(b) the person who lets or hires the services of the worker is the employer of the worker for the purpose of this Part, while the worker is working for that person; and

(c) the employer of the worker and the person who lets or hires the services of the worker are jointly and severally liable to fulfil any obligations of an employer as set out in this Part.

(a) deem the first person to be a worker and the second person to be the employer of the first person, within the meaning of this Part; and

(b) determine an amount that shall be deemed to be the earnings of the worker, for the purpose of this Part.