Merchant Seamen Compensation Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. M-6)

Marginal note:Minimum compensation

40. The amount of compensation to which an injured seaman is entitled for temporary total or permanent total disability under this Act shall not be less than one hundred and twenty-four dollars per week or, where his average earnings are less than one hundred and twenty-four dollars per week, the amount of those earnings, and for temporary partial or permanent partial disability a corresponding amount in proportion to the impairment of earning capacity.

Marginal note:Computation of average earnings

• 41. (1) Average earnings shall be computed in such a manner as is best calculated to give the rate per week or month at which a seaman was remunerated but not so as in any case to exceed the rate of twenty-seven thousand two hundred and fifty dollars per annum.

• Marginal note:In case of shortness of employment

  (2) Where, owing to the shortness of the time during which a seaman was in the employment of his employer or the casual nature of his employment or the terms thereof, it is impracticable to compute the rate of remuneration as of the date of an accident, regard may be had to the average weekly or monthly amount that, during the twelve months previous to the accident, was being earned by a person in the same grade employed at the same work by the same employer, or if there is no person so employed, then by a person in the same grade employed in the same class of employment on a ship of the same class.

• Marginal note:Definition of "employment by the same employer"

  (3) For the purpose of this section, the expression “employment by the same employer” means employment by the same employer in the grade in which the seaman was employed at the time of the accident, uninterrupted by absence from work due to illness or any other unavoidable cause.

• Marginal note:Special expenses not counted

  (4) Where an employer was accustomed to pay a seaman a sum to cover any special expense entailed on him by the nature of his employment, that sum shall not be reckoned as part of his earnings.

• Marginal note:Earnings at time of accident considered

  (5) Where in any case it seems more equitable, the Board may award compensation, having regard to the earnings of a seaman at the time of an accident.

Marginal note:Payments, etc., during disability considered

• 42. (1) In fixing the amount of a weekly or monthly payment, regard shall be had to any payment, allowance or benefit that a seaman may receive from his employer during the period of his disability, including any pension, gratuity or other allowance provided wholly at the expense of the employer.

• Marginal note:No compensation if wages paid

  (2) No compensation is payable in respect of the period during which an employer is, under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, or otherwise, liable for the payment of wages and to defray the expenses of maintenance of an injured seaman.

• Marginal note:Compensation paid in full

  (3) Any sum payable by way of compensation by the owner of a ship under this Act shall be paid in full notwithstanding anything in Part 3 of the Marine Liability Act.