New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1987 - SECT 156

156 Recovery of double premiums for contravention of insurance requirements

(1) If an employer fails to obtain or maintain in force a policy of insurance as required by section 155 (1) in respect of any period, the Authority may recover from the employer in a court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due to the Authority a sum equal to twice the amount of the premium that would have been payable for the issue of a policy of insurance to the employer in respect of that period or such lesser amount as the Authority may agree to accept in any particular case.

(1A) If an employer maintains in force at any one time more than one policy of insurance for the purposes of section 155 (1) (in contravention of section 155 (1AA)), the Authority may:

(a) determine an amount as the amount of premium that the employer has avoided by maintaining more than one policy of insurance, and

(b) recover from the employer in a court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due to the Authority a sum equal to twice the amount determined under paragraph (a) or such lesser amount as the Authority may agree to accept in any particular case.

(2) The Authority may recover a sum from an employer under this section whether or not the employer has been proceeded against or been convicted for any relevant offence against section 155 (1) or (1AA).

(3) Any such sum recovered by the Authority shall be paid into the WorkCover Authority Fund.

(4) A certificate executed by the Authority and certifying that a sum specified in the certificate is the sum equal to twice the amount of premium that would have been payable for the issue of a policy of insurance to an employer so specified in respect of a period so specified is (without proof of its execution by the Authority) admissible in any proceedings and is evidence of the matters specified in the certificate.

(4A) A certificate executed by the Authority and certifying that a sum specified in the certificate is the sum equal to twice the amount of premium that an employer has avoided by maintaining more than one policy of insurance in contravention of section 155 (1AA) is (without proof of its execution by the Authority) admissible in any proceedings and is evidence of the matters specified in the certificate.

(5) In the absence of information that would enable the Authority to accurately determine the premium that would have been payable for the issue of a particular policy of insurance, the following provisions have effect:

(a) the Authority is entitled to make an estimate of that premium (based on the information available to the Authority),

(b) the Authority’s estimate is presumed to be accurate as to the premium that would have been payable and cannot be challenged on the basis that insufficient information was available to enable the making of an accurate assessment, but can be challenged by the provision of information that enables a more accurate estimate to be made,

(c) if the Authority’s estimate is successfully challenged and as a result a more accurate estimate is substituted, the proceedings are not open to challenge merely because of the inaccurate estimate and may continue to be heard and be determined on the basis of the substituted assessment.

(6) A court that convicts an employer of an offence under section 155 may, on the application of the Authority, order the employer to pay to the Authority the amount that the court is satisfied the Authority is entitled to recover from the employer under this section in respect of the failure to which the offence relates. Any amount paid by an employer under such an order is taken to have been recovered from the employer under subsection (1) or (1A) and is to be dealt with accordingly.

(6A) For the purposes of subsection (6), a court that makes a finding that an employer is guilty of an offence under section 155 without proceeding to a conviction is taken to have convicted the employer of the offence.

(7) The Local Court cannot order the payment of an amount under subsection (6) that when added to the amount of any penalty imposed for the offence concerned would exceed an amount equivalent to 500 penalty units.

(8) Despite any other provision of this section, if the Authority is satisfied that:

(a) the reason for the employer not being insured against liability to pay compensation to the worker is that the employer believed on reasonable grounds that the employer could not be liable under this Act in respect of the worker because under section 9AA the worker’s employment was not connected with this State, and

(b) the employer had workers compensation cover in respect of the worker’s employment under the law of the State or Territory with which the employer believed on reasonable grounds the worker’s employment was connected under section 9AA,

the employer is not liable under this section in respect of that liability.

(9) In subsection (8), "workers compensation cover" means insurance or registration required under the law of a State or Territory in respect of liability for statutory workers compensation under that law.