Section 44: Liability for assessment of Independent Contractors and Sub-contractors.

(1) Where any person or organization employs an independent contractor to perform any work in a workplace, both the person or organization and the independent contractor shall be liable-
(a) jointly for any assessment under this Act relating to that work; and
(b) for that amount which may, at the discretion of the Board, be collected from either of them, or partly from one and partly from the other.
(2) Where any work is performed under a sub-contract, the principal, the contractor and the sub-contractor shall be liable-
(a) jointly for any assessment relating to that work; and
(b) for that amount which from may be collected from either of them or partly one and partly from the other.
(3) Any person or organization referred to in sub-section (1) of this section may withhold from the money payable to that contractor, any amount for which the principal is liable under this section and pay such amount to the Board and between the principal, contractor and sub-contractor or both.
(4) Any contractor may withhold from any money payable to a subcontractor the amount that the contractor is liable to pay under this section to the sub-contractor and pay that amount to the Board and between the contractor and the sub-contractor, the payment shall be deemed to be a payment on the sub-contract.
(5) In the absence of any term in the contract to the contrary, where-
(a) a principal does not withhold any money payable to a contractor under sub-section (3) of this section and pays its liability under sub-section (1) of this section to the Board, the contractor shall be indebted to the principal for that amount and the principal shall have a cause of action against the contractor in respect of that debt; or
(b) the contractor does not withhold any money under sub-section (4) of this section and pays its liability under sub-section (2) of this section, the subcontractor shall become indebted to the contractor for that amount and the contractor shall have a cause of action against the sub-contractor in respect of that debt.