Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Division 20 proposes one significant change to the Government Employees Compensation Act that will allow prescribed entities to be subrogated to the rights of employees to pursue claims against third parties.
The current legislation was enacted in 1918. It provides benefits to employees of the federal public service, most crown corporations, and agencies if they are injured in the workplace as a result of accidents or occupational diseases. When an employee sustains an injury in the course of employment that's attributable to a third party, the employee may either pursue the third party or allow the federal government to do so. The amendment here proposes to grant the authority to pursue the third-party claims to prescribed crown corporations or other bodies. That's essentially the change that's being proposed. There are two other bits: the first essentially says that the employee must make a choice; the second says that once the election is made it is final.