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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
New South Wales
Workers Compensation Amendment
Bill 2008
Contents
Page
1 Name of Act 2
2 Commencement 2
3 Amendment of Workers Compensation Act 1987 No 70 2
4 Repeal of Act 2
Schedule 1 Amendments 3
b2007-131-20.d27
New South Wales
Workers Compensation Amendment
Bill 2008
No , 2008
A Bill for
An Act to amend the Workers Compensation Act 1987 to make further provision for
workers compensation insurance and other matters.
Clause 1 Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2008
The Legislature of New South Wales enacts: 1
1 Name of Act 2
This Act is the Workers Compensation Amendment Act 2008. 3
2 Commencement 4
This Act commences on the date of assent to this Act. 5
3 Amendment of Workers Compensation Act 1987 No 70 6
The Workers Compensation Act 1987 is amended as set out in 7
Schedule 1. 8
4 Repeal of Act 9
(1) This Act is repealed on the day following the day on which this Act 10
commences. 11
(2) The repeal of this Act does not, because of the operation of section 30 12
of the Interpretation Act 1987, affect any amendment made by this Act. 13
Page 2
Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
Schedule 1 Amendments 1
(Section 3) 2
[1] Section 155 Compulsory insurance for employers 3
Insert after section 155 (1): 4
(1AA) An employer must not at any one time maintain in force more 5
than one policy of insurance for the purposes of subsection (1) 6
(ignoring any policy of insurance effected by the employer for 7
the purposes of compliance with section 31 of the Coal Industry 8
Act 2001). 9
Maximum penalty: 500 penalty units. 10
[2] Section 155AA 11
Insert after section 155: 12
155AA Exempt employers not required to obtain policy of insurance 13
(1) An employer is an exempt employer during a financial year while 14
the employer has reasonable grounds for believing that the total 15
amount of wages that will be payable by the employer during the 16
financial year to workers employed by the employer will be not 17
more than the exemption limit for that financial year. 18
(2) An employer is not an exempt employer whenever the employer: 19
(a) is a member of a group constituted under Division 2A, or 20
(b) employs a person under a training contract (within the 21
meaning of the Apprenticeship and Traineeship Act 2001). 22
Note. A training contract is a contract entered into for the 23
purpose of establishing an apprenticeship or traineeship. 24
(3) An employer who is an exempt employer for the whole or any 25
part of a financial year is deemed to have obtained from the 26
Nominal Insurer (and the Nominal Insurer is deemed to have 27
issued) a policy of insurance in compliance with section 155 (an 28
exempt employer policy) for any period for which the employer 29
is an exempt employer during the financial year. No premium is 30
payable for an exempt employer policy. 31
(4) An exempt employer policy covers the employer for any period 32
for which the employer is an exempt employer but does not cover 33
the employer for any period for which the employer has actually 34
obtained a policy of insurance under section 155. 35
(5) An administration fee of an amount prescribed by the regulations 36
is payable to the Nominal Insurer by an employer in respect of 37
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Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
each claim made against the employer in respect of an injury to a 1
worker received during any period for which an exempt employer 2
policy covers the employer. 3
(6) The regulations may make provision for or with respect to the 4
payment of an administration fee, including provision for or with 5
respect to any of the following: 6
(a) the period within which an administration fee must be 7
paid, 8
(b) the payment of a late payment fee if an administration fee 9
is not paid within the required period, 10
(c) the full or partial waiver or refund of an administration fee 11
or late payment fee. 12
(7) The Nominal Insurer is entitled to recover as a debt in a court of 13
competent jurisdiction an administration fee payable by an 14
employer together with any late payment fee payable. 15
(8) In this section: 16
exemption limit for a financial year means $7,500 or such other 17
amount as may be fixed by an insurance premiums order as the 18
exemption limit for that financial year. 19
financial year means a period of 12 months commencing on 20
1 July in any year. 21
wages means wages as defined in section 174 and includes any 22
distribution to a worker as a beneficiary under a trust that would 23
(under section 174AA) constitute wages for the purposes of 24
section 174. 25
[3] Section 156 Recovery of double premiums for contravention of 26
insurance requirements 27
Insert after section 156 (1): 28
(1A) If an employer maintains in force at any one time more than one 29
policy of insurance for the purposes of section 155 (1) (in 30
contravention of section 155 (1AA)), the Authority may: 31
(a) determine an amount as the amount of premium that the 32
employer has avoided by maintaining more than one 33
policy of insurance, and 34
(b) recover from the employer in a court of competent 35
jurisdiction as a debt due to the Authority a sum equal to 36
twice the amount determined under paragraph (a) or such 37
lesser amount as the Authority may agree to accept in any 38
particular case. 39
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Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
[4] Section 156 (2) 1
Omit the subsection. Insert instead: 2
(2) The Authority may recover a sum from an employer under this 3
section whether or not the employer has been proceeded against 4
or been convicted for any relevant offence against section 155 (1) 5
or (1AA). 6
[5] Section 156 (4A) 7
Insert after section 156 (4): 8
(4A) A certificate executed by the Authority and certifying that a sum 9
specified in the certificate is the sum equal to twice the amount of 10
premium that an employer has avoided by maintaining more than 11
one policy of insurance in contravention of section 155 (1AA) is 12
(without proof of its execution by the Authority) admissible in 13
any proceedings and is evidence of the matters specified in the 14
certificate. 15
[6] Section 156 (6) 16
Insert "or (1A)" after "subsection (1)". 17
[7] Section 156 (7) 18
Omit "subsection (5)". Insert instead "subsection (6)". 19
[8] Section 156B Recovery from directors of corporation--insurance 20
requirements 21
Omit section 156B (3) and (4). Insert instead: 22
(3) A person is a culpable director of a corporation at the relevant 23
time if the person was a director of the corporation at any time 24
during the contravention to which the entitlement of the 25
Authority relates (whether or not the corporation has been 26
proceeded against or convicted of an offence in respect of that 27
contravention). 28
(4) A person is not a culpable director of a corporation if the person 29
establishes that: 30
(a) the contravention by the corporation occurred without the 31
person's knowledge, or 32
(b) the person was not in a position to influence the conduct of 33
the corporation in relation to the contravention, or 34
(c) the person, being in such a position, used all due diligence 35
to prevent the contravention by the corporation. 36
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Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
[9] Section 174 Records relating to wages, contracts etc to be kept and 1
supplied 2
Omit "7 years" from section 174 (2) and (6AA) wherever occurring. 3
Insert instead "5 years". 4
[10] Section 174A Recovery of inspection costs of Authority or insurer 5
Insert "or that an employer has failed to obtain or maintain in force a policy of 6
insurance as required by section 155 (1)" after "an employer" in 7
section 174A (1). 8
[11] Section 176 9
Insert before section 177: 10
176 Licences to be re-granted only to existing licence holders 11
(1) A licence may be granted under this Division only if the licence: 12
(a) is endorsed with a specialised insurer endorsement, and 13
(b) is granted to an existing licence holder on the expiry of a 14
licence granted to the existing licence holder under this 15
Division. 16
(2) In this section, an existing licence holder means a corporation or 17
body corporate that held a licence that was granted under this 18
Division, and in force or suspended, immediately before the 19
commencement of this section. 20
(3) This section extends to an application for a licence that was 21
made, but not determined, before the commencement of this 22
section. 23
(4) Any licence granted under this Division after the date that the Bill 24
for the Workers Compensation Amendment Act 2008 was 25
introduced into the Legislative Assembly that could not have 26
been granted had this section been in force has no effect. 27
[12] Section 213 28
Omit the section. Insert instead: 29
213 Deposit required for self-insurers and former self-insurers 30
(1) A self-insurer who is granted a licence under this Division must 31
on the grant of the licence deposit with the Authority an amount 32
of money determined by the Authority in respect of the 33
self-insurer. 34
Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units. 35
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Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
(2) A person who is or was a self-insurer must deposit with the 1
Authority, at such time or times as the Authority may direct by 2
notice to the person, such additional amount or amounts as the 3
Authority determines to be necessary to ensure that the amount 4
the person has on deposit under this Division is the person's 5
required deposit amount for the time being. 6
Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units. 7
(3) A person who has ceased to be a self-insurer can be required to 8
deposit money with the Authority under this section even if the 9
amount of any previous deposit of the person has been refunded 10
to the person under section 216. 11
(4) The Authority may at any time refund to a person who has money 12
on deposit with the Authority under this section any amount by 13
which the person's deposit exceeds the person's required deposit 14
amount for the time being. 15
(5) A person who is or was a self-insurer must comply with any 16
written direction of the Authority to provide the Authority with 17
specified information (including actuarial information) for the 18
purpose of enabling the Authority to determine the person's 19
required deposit amount from time to time. 20
Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units. 21
(6) No deposit is payable under this Division by: 22
(a) a Government employer, or 23
(b) any other employer approved by the Authority. 24
(7) In this section: 25
required deposit amount of a person means the amount that the 26
Authority determines to be the amount required to adequately 27
provide for all the accrued, continuing, future and contingent 28
self-insurer liabilities of the person and of the person's 29
subsidiaries. 30
self-insurer liabilities of a person means: 31
(a) any liabilities of the person under this Act in respect of 32
workers employed by the person while a self-insurer, or 33
(b) any liabilities of the person independently of this Act (but 34
not including a liability for compensation in the nature of 35
workers compensation arising under any Act or other law 36
of another State, a Territory or the Commonwealth or a 37
liability arising under the law of another country) for 38
injuries received by workers employed by the person while 39
a self-insurer (including any injury that is a dust disease as 40
defined in the Workers' Compensation (Dust Diseases) 41
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Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
Act 1942 and the aggravation, acceleration, exacerbation 1
or deterioration of a dust disease as so defined). 2
[13] Section 214 Investment of deposits 3
Omit "self-insurer" wherever occurring. Insert instead "person". 4
[14] Section 214 (4) 5
Insert after section 214 (3): 6
(4) If a person to whom interest would otherwise be payable under 7
this section is in breach of any obligation arising under this 8
Division to deposit an additional amount of money with the 9
Authority, the Authority may, instead of paying the interest to the 10
person, apply the interest in full or partial satisfaction of the 11
person's obligation to make the additional deposit. Any amount 12
of interest so applied by the Authority is taken to have been 13
deposited with the Authority by the person concerned. 14
[15] Section 215 Alternative method of giving security 15
Omit "self-insurer" from section 215 (1), (3), (5) and (7) wherever occurring. 16
Insert instead "person". 17
[16] Section 215 (4) 18
Omit the subsection. Insert instead: 19
(4) A person must comply with a requirement under subsection (3). 20
Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units. 21
[17] Section 215A Guarantee as alternative to deposit 22
Omit "section 213 (2)" from section 215A (2). 23
Insert instead "section 213". 24
[18] Section 215A (3) 25
Omit "self-insurer". Insert instead "person". 26
[19] Section 216 Application and refund of deposit 27
Omit section 216 (1). Insert instead: 28
(1) The Authority is to hold every amount of money deposited under 29
this Division on trust for the payment and satisfaction of all 30
claims, judgments or awards (not otherwise paid or satisfied): 31
(a) against the person making the deposit in respect of the 32
person's self-insurer liabilities, and 33
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Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
(b) against any person that is a subsidiary of the person 1
making the deposit (being a subsidiary that is or was 2
covered for the time being by the self-insurer licence of the 3
person making the deposit) in respect of the subsidiary's 4
self-insurer liabilities. 5
[20] Section 216 (2) 6
Omit "self-insurer". Insert instead "person". 7
[21] Section 216 (3) 8
Omit "if the person ceases to be a self-insurer". 9
Insert instead "if the person has ceased to be a self-insurer". 10
[22] Section 216 (4) 11
Omit the subsection. Insert instead: 12
(4) In this section, self-insurer liabilities of a person has the same 13
meaning as in section 213. 14
[23] Schedule 6 Savings, transitional and other provisions 15
Insert at the end of clause 15 (2) of Part 18C: 16
(3) This clause continues to have effect despite the enactment of 17
section 176 by the Workers Compensation Amendment Act 2008. 18
[24] Schedule 6, Part 19A 19
Insert at the end of clause 2: 20
Note. Section 176 provides that a licence may be granted under Division 21
3 of Part 7 of this Act only if the licence is endorsed with a specialised 22
insurer endorsement and granted to an existing licence holder on the 23
expiry of a licence granted to the existing licence holder under that 24
Division. 25
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Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
[25] Schedule 6, Part 19D 1
Insert after Part 19C: 2
Part 19D Provisions consequent on enactment of 3
Workers Compensation Amendment Act 4
2008 5
1 Single policy of insurance 6
Section 155 (1AA) does not apply in respect of a policy of 7
insurance in force immediately before the date of commencement 8
of that subsection during the period that is the current period of 9
insurance for the policy on that date of commencement. 10
2 Exemption from obtaining insurance 11
(1) Section 155AA does not apply in respect of a financial year 12
before the financial year commencing on 1 July 2008. 13
(2) For the purposes of this clause and section 155AA, the period 14
after 4 pm on 30 June 2008 forms part of the financial year 15
commencing on 1 July 2008. 16
[26] Schedule 6, Part 20 17
Insert at the end of clause 1 (1): 18
Workers Compensation Amendment Act 2008 19
Page 10
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