WORKERS REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION ACT 1986 - SECT 46
This legislation has been repealed.
WORKERS REHABILITATION AND COMPENSATION ACT 1986 - SECT 46
(1) Subject to this
section, the Corporation is liable for the compensation that is payable under
this Act on account of the occurrence of a compensable injury.
(2) Where a
compensable injury arises from employment by a self-insured employer, the
self-insured employer is liable to make all payments of compensation to which
any person becomes entitled in consequence of the occurrence of that
compensable injury.
(3) Subject to this
section, where a worker is, as a result of a compensable injury, wholly or
partially incapacitated for work and is in employment when the incapacity
arises, the worker's employer is liable to pay compensation by way of income
maintenance—
(a) if
the period of incapacity is two weeks or less—for the whole period of
the incapacity; or
(b) if
the period of the incapacity is more than two weeks—for the first two
weeks of the period of incapacity.
(4) If separate
periods of incapacity commence during the course of the same calendar year
(whether attributable to the same injury or not), an employer is not liable to
pay compensation under subsection (3)
for those periods of incapacity in excess of an amount equal to twice the
worker's average weekly earnings.
(5) Where a worker is,
at the commencement of a period of incapacity, in the employment of two or
more employers, they are liable to pay the compensation referred to in subsection (3)
in proportions determined by agreement between them or, in default of
agreement, by the Corporation.
(6) An employer who is
liable to pay compensation to a worker under subsection (3)
shall make the payment—
(a) if
the claim for compensation is not disputed—within 14 days after the date
of the claim; or
(b) if
the claim for compensation is disputed—forthwith after the dispute is
determined.
(6a) Where an employer
(not being a self-insured employer) pays compensation under subsection (3)
in respect of an unrepresentative injury, the employer may recover the amount
of the payment from the Corporation.
(7) Where an employer
pays compensation under subsection (3)
in respect of an injury that did not arise from employment by that employer,
that employer may recover the amount of the payment from the Corporation, and
the Corporation may, in turn, recover that amount—
(a) from
the employer from whose employment the injury arose; or
(b) if
it appears that the worker was not entitled to that compensation—from
the worker.
(8) Where the
Corporation pays compensation by way of income maintenance to a worker who was
not in employment when the incapacity for work arose, the Corporation may
recover any amount that would, if the worker had been in employment, have been
payable under subsection (3)
by the employer from whose employment the worker's injury arose.
(8a) The regulations
may exempt prescribed classes of employers from the operation of subsection (3)
(and in that case the Corporation will undertake any liability of those
employers that would otherwise have arisen under that subsection).
(8b) The Corporation
will also undertake any liability of an employer under subsection (3)
in respect of a particular injury if the Corporation is satisfied that the
employer has complied with the employer's responsibilities under section 52(5)
within 5 days after receipt of the relevant claim (and if an employer
pays compensation despite the operation of this subsection, the employer may
recover the amount of the payment from the Corporation up to the amount of
compensation payable to the worker under this Act in respect of the relevant
period).
(9) No compensation by
way of income maintenance is payable to an injured self-employed worker whose
injury arises from self-employment in respect of the first week of incapacity
for work.