Seminar at BZU on the “Compensation of work injuries in the Palestinian Labor law”

The Department of Law at the Faculty of Law and Public Administration - Birzeit University held on 10 February 2011, a seminar on "compensation of work injuries in the Palestinian Labor Law: Theory and Practice", in which the  lawyer. Nabil Mushahwar, Director of the Legal Unit at the  Ministry of Labor. Buthaina Salem, and Professor of Law, Ahmed Nasrah, have participated.

In his opening address, Dr. Khalid Talahmeh valued the efforts of the students to hold this seminar, which comes as a contribution to linking theory with practice, overviewing the Palestinian Labor law, stressing  its need to be dissected and constructively criticized, in addition to reviewing  the strengths and weaknesses.

Mr. Mushahwar addressed the compensation legal procedures, noting that the work injury is an accident that occurs to the worker at work or because of it, or while going to or returning from it. He reviewed the procedures for filing a case, starting with the employer , who provides the injured worker with first aid and then take him/her to hospital, , and then report to the police and give the patient a copy of the work accident notice, followed by the lawyer's role to claim compensation, which includes all the expenses spent by the injured worker, including costs of rehabilitation.

Mr. Nasrah spoke about the legal basis for compensating work injuries, and the type of suit that could be filed. He pointed out that the labor law legislator did not take into account the size of the enterprise, while that worker is entitled to bring a lawsuit against the person, who  caused him injury  and the institution in which he/she works.                                                                                                                                           

Ms. Salem reviewed the role of the Ministry of Labor in protecting workers in case of exposure to work injuries in the public and private sectors, in terms of monitoring law enforcement, by notifying the Ministry of the work incident within 48 hours, through the filling of special forms, noting that employers are not committed in this regard.

She explained the Ministry's role in  following-up on court procedures related to work accidents, and on the problems arising with the insurance companies, especially as they refuse to cover the costs of what is known as "child labor", referring to the legal procedures undertaken by the Ministry against the uninsured companies.