WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1987 - SECT 151Y Funding of self-insurers, government employers etc for retrospective claims

WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1987 - SECT 151Y

151Y Funding of self-insurers, government employers etc for retrospective claims

(1) This section applies to the following employers--

(a) self-insurers,

(b) employers who obtained a policy of insurance from a specialised insurer,

(c) Government employers insured under a policy of insurance from the Government Insurance Office,

(d) employers who obtained a policy of insurance under the former Act for a period that extended beyond 4 pm on 30 June 1987 (not being a policy assigned to a licensed insurer under clause 10 of Part 15 of Schedule 6).

(2) The Authority may establish a special account within the Workers Compensation Operational Fund for the purposes of this section.

(3) The Authority may require licensed insurers and former licensed insurers to pay into the special account such amounts as the Authority may direct by notice served on the insurers concerned.

(3A) Amounts paid into the special account may be refunded for the purposes of making necessary adjustments.

(4) The Authority may recover as a debt in a court of competent jurisdiction any payment which an insurer does not pay in accordance with a direction under this section.

(5) The Authority may from the special account pay such amounts as it considers appropriate to fund the liability of employers for the relevant part of retrospective claims (being employers who, at the time of the injury giving rise to the claim, were employers to whom this section applies).

(6) For the purposes of this section--

(a) retrospective claims are claims for damages to which those employers have become liable because of the enactment of the Workers Compensation (Benefits) Amendment Act 1989 in respect of injuries received by workers after 4 pm on 30 June 1987 and before 4 pm on 30 June 1989, and

(b) the relevant part of a retrospective claim is that part that the Authority estimates represents the amount of damages (and associated expenses) in excess of the amount of workers compensation which was or would have been payable in respect of the injury concerned.

(7) The Authority is not obliged to fund a liability of an employer under this section and may impose conditions on the making of payments under this section.

(8) The Authority is not to fund an employer in respect of any liability for which the employer is already indemnified under a policy of insurance (or re-insurance) to which this Act does not apply.

(9) This section does not limit the liability of a specialised insurer, the Self Insurance Corporation or any other insurer under a policy of insurance to which section 151X applies.