WORKERS' COMPENSATION AND INJURY MANAGEMENT ACT 1981 - SECT 73

WORKERS' COMPENSATION AND INJURY MANAGEMENT ACT 1981 - SECT 73

73 .         Worker entitled but dispute between employers

        (1)         Where there is a dispute between employers as to liability but no dispute that the worker is entitled to compensation from some employer for a fresh injury or the recurrence of an old injury the employer of the worker at the time of the latest injury or recurrence is liable to pay compensation under this Act until the question of which employer is liable or how liability is to be apportioned between employers has been resolved.

        (2)         The worker or his dependants, if so required by the employer first liable to pay compensation, shall furnish to him the name and address of any employer in whose employment the worker was when any like injury previously occurred, as he or they may possess.

        (3)         If the worker has filed an application for compensation, the respondent employer shall join as a party any other employer whom he alleges is wholly or partially liable to pay the compensation.

        (4)         If the worker has not filed an application the employer first liable to pay compensation may apply for determination by an arbitrator of the question of whether some other employer is wholly or partially liable to pay compensation.

        (5)         If an arbitrator finds that it was a recurrence and not a fresh injury or partly a recurrence and partly a fresh injury, the arbitrator may order that other employer to pay to the applicant employer the whole or a part of the amount of compensation paid to the worker and to pay any further compensation to which the worker is entitled.

        (6)         If the dispute between employers is in respect of liability to pay compensation for noise induced hearing loss under section 24A or 31E, WorkCover WA shall provide an arbitrator dealing with the dispute with copies of the results of any relevant audiometric tests stored by WorkCover WA under clause 5(2) of Schedule 7.

        [Section 73 amended: No. 36 of 1988 s. 11; No. 96 of 1990 s. 16; No. 48 of 1993 s. 28(1); No. 42 of 2004 s. 59, 147, 149 and 150.]