Employers’ Liability Bill, 1893

A bill rendering employers liable for compensation to their workmen for injuries received while at work. The bill was not pa ed, being wrecked by the question of “contracting out.” Many large employers of labour had arrangements with their men, by which the latter contributed to an a urance fund, maintained in the main by the employer, for the purpose of providing compensation for injury, the men being bound, under these conditions, not to take legal action for compensation. The House of Commons pa ed a clause rendering such contracts illegal, but the Lords inserted an amendment rendering them legal under certain safeguards as to the amount of the employers’ contribution to the fund, etc. Neither party would give way, and the bill was withdrawn.