Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Accident Compensation Act 1985 - SECT 11

Share farmers

11. Share farmers



(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, a share farmer shall be deemed to be
a worker for the purposes of this Act, if and only if-

   (a)  the share farmer is employed under a contract with the owner of the
        land under which the share farmer is entitled to receive as
        consideration whether in cash or in kind or partly in cash and partly
        in kind less than one-third of the income derived from the land; or

   (b)  the share farmer is employed under a contract in writing which
        provides that the owner of the land shall be liable to pay
        compensation under this Act in respect of any injury arising out of or
        in the course of any work carried out by the share farmer in the
        performance of the contract.

(2) A share farmer is not a worker for the purposes of this Act unless the
share farmer is deemed to be a worker by virtue of subsection (1).

(3) If a share farmer is deemed to be a worker under subsection (1), the
amounts paid to the share farmer by the owner of the land under the contract
shall be deemed to be remuneration and the owner shall be deemed to be the
employer of the worker.

(4) A member of a share farmer's family who is employed by or assists the
share farmer whether for remuneration or otherwise in the performance of the
duties of the share farmer whether pursuant to the contract between the share
farmer and the owner of the land or otherwise shall be deemed not to be a
worker in the employ of the owner of the land by reason of the performance of
such duties.

(5) In this section-

income in relation to land means the gross value of the production derived
from the land;

owner in relation to land includes any person who is in possession of, or
entitled to the receipt of the rents and profits from the land;

primary production means agriculture, pasturage, horticulture, viticulture,
apiculture, poultry farming, dairy farming, cultivation of soils, gathering in
of crops or rearing of livestock;

share farmer means a person who is under contract to the owner of land to
perform any work in relation to land used substantially for primary production
and who is to be remunerated in whole or in part by receiving a share of the
income whether in cash or in kind, derived from the land.