TRANSPORT ACCIDENT ACT 1986 - SECT 4 Pre-accident weekly earnings
TRANSPORT ACCIDENT ACT 1986 - SECT 4
Pre-accident weekly earningsS. 4(1) amended by No. 32/1988 s. 5(1)(a)(b), substituted by No. 94/2004 s. 5(1).
(1) In this Act, "pre-accident weekly earnings", in relation to an earner (other than a self-employed person) who is injured as a result of a transport accident, means the weekly average of the gross earnings received by the earner as an earner during the 12 months immediately before the relevant day, unless subsection (2) applies.
S. 4(1A) inserted by No. 32/1988 s. 5(2), substituted by No. 94/2004 s. 5(1).
(1A) In this section "relevant day" means the day of the accident or the day when the injury first manifested itself, whichever is the later day.
S. 4(1B) inserted by No. 32/1988 s. 5(2), repealed by No. 94/2004 s. 5(1).
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S. 4(1BA) inserted by No. 84/2000 s. 5, repealed by No. 94/2004 s. 5(1).
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S. 4(1C) inserted by No. 84/1994 s. 17,
amended by No. 73/1996
s. 97(b), repealed by No. 94/2004 s. 5(1).
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S. 4(2) substituted by No. 94/2004 s. 5(1).
(2) In the following cases, in this Act pre‑accident weekly earnings , in relation to an earner (other than a self-employed person) who is injured as a result of a transport accident, means—
(a) if, on the relevant day, the earner was earning continuously, but had not been earning continuously for at least 12 months, the weekly average of the gross earnings received by the earner as an earner during the period from when the earner started to earn continuously to immediately before the relevant day; or
(b) if subsection (3) applies, the weekly average of the gross earnings received by the earner as an earner during the period from when the change of circumstance referred to in that subsection occurred to immediately before the relevant day; or
(c) if the earner is an earner by reason of an arrangement to which section 3(2)(b) applies, the average weekly gross earnings that the earner could reasonably have been expected to earn, but for the injury, in employment under that arrangement.
Note
This section, as amended by section 5 of the Transport Accident (Amendment) Act 2004 , only applies to an earner who was injured in a transport accident that occurs on or after the date of commencement of section 5—see section 185. Section 5 inserted subsections (1), (1A), (2), (2A) and (3).
S. 4(2A) inserted by No. 94/2004 s. 5(1).
(2A) For the purposes of this section, an earner earns continuously if he or she obtains earnings from permanent employment or from a source that, on the relevant day, was likely to continue for a period of at least 6 months to provide earnings to the earner on the same, or a similar, basis to the basis on which the earnings were being provided as at the relevant day.
S. 4(3) substituted by No. 94/2004 s. 5(1).
(3) This subsection applies, if during the 12 months immediately before the relevant day, there was, as a result of any action taken by the earner, a significant change in his or her earnings circumstances that resulted in the earner regularly earning, or becoming entitled to earn, more on a weekly basis than he or she was earning before the change occurred.
Examples
Examples of a change of circumstances to which this subsection would apply include a change of job, a promotion, a move from part-time to full-time employment, or a pay increase arising from the achievement of performance standards. This subsection does not apply to a pay rise applying across an industry.
S. 4(4) amended by No. 32/1988 s. 5(3), repealed by No. 94/2004 s. 5(1).
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S. 4(5) substituted by No. 32/1988 s. 5(4), repealed by No. 94/2004 s. 5(1).
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S. 4(6) repealed by No. 32/1988 s. 5(4).
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(7) If an earner at the time of the accident was a full-time student, the earner's pre-accident weekly earnings for the purposes of this Act—
(a) until the time that the earner would have completed the course of studies in which the earner was a full-time student, shall be calculated in accordance with subsection (1); and
(b) as from the time that the earner would have completed the course of studies in which the earner was a full-time student, shall be the weekly earnings which the earner would have received upon being employed on the completion of the course of studies in which the earner was a full-time student.
(8) For the purposes of subsection (7), if at the time of the accident the earner is a full-time student at a secondary school, weekly earnings under subsection (7)(b) shall be calculated on the basis that the earner will successfully complete the final year of secondary school.
Note to s. 4 inserted by No. 18/2022 s. 21.
Note
See also section 45(5A).
S. 4A inserted by No. 94/2004 s. 6.