The dependents of a man who died in a workplace accident have been permitted by the Singapore High Court to make a claim for compensation despite an appeal from his employer and an insurer.
Tan Mui Tang and her four children filed a claim worth SGD$147,000 with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA) when her husband, Low Ngak Boon, died after suffering a heart attack at his workplace in 2014.
Low’s employer, Club Sonata, and the insurer,
China Taiping Insurance, disputed the claim, arguing that Low’s death was not an accident. They also said that Low’s family had no legal standing to make the claim as they did not have letters of administration, which are documents that give authority to a person to administer the assets of someone who died without leaving a will.
However, the High Court threw out the employer’s and insurer’s appeal, reported Straits Times. Justice George Wei, who wrote the decision, said that Tan’s case was different from the declined cases that the appeal cited.
Anil Walwani, Tan’s lawyer, said that dismissal will mean that the family’s claim with the Ministry of Manpower will continue. He also said that if letters of administration are needed for claims similar to Tan’s, it would become prohibitive for the deceased’s dependents to make claims as such documents could cost several thousand dollars to obtain.
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