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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Western Australia Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 CONTENTS Part 1 -- Preliminary 1. Short title 2 2. Commencement 2 Part 2 -- Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 amended 3. Act amended 3 4. Section 159 amended 3 5. Section 160 amended 4 6. Section 161A amended 5 7. Section 165 amended 5 8. Section 168 amended 5 9. Section 169 replaced 6 169. Terms of insurance and form of policies 6 10. Section 174 amended 6 11. Section 174AB amended 8 12. Section 175 amended 8 Part 3 -- Transitional 13. Terms used 10 14. Things done or omitted during the transitional period 10 15. Validity of terms, conditions and exclusions of insurance policies effected during the transitional period 11 267--1 page i Western Australia LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 A Bill for An Act to amend the Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981. The Parliament of Western Australia enacts as follows: page 1 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 Part 1 Preliminary s. 1 1 Part 1 -- Preliminary 2 1. Short title 3 This is the Workers' Compensation and Injury Management 4 Amendment Act 2012. 5 2. Commencement 6 This Act comes into operation as follows -- 7 (a) sections 1 and 2 -- on the day on which this Act 8 receives the Royal Assent; 9 (b) the rest of the Act -- on a day fixed by proclamation, 10 and different days may be fixed for different provisions. page 2 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 Part 2 amended s. 3 1 Part 2 -- Workers' Compensation and Injury 2 Management Act 1981 amended 3 3. Act amended 4 This Part amends the Workers' Compensation and Injury 5 Management Act 1981. 6 4. Section 159 amended 7 (1) In section 159 delete the definition of damages. 8 (2) In section 159 insert in alphabetical order: 9 10 damages means -- 11 (a) damages due or payable to, or claimed by, a 12 worker for an injury caused to that worker by 13 the negligence, other tort or breach of statutory 14 duty of the employer of the worker or the 15 negligence of any person for whose conduct the 16 employer is vicariously liable; or 17 (b) damages due or payable to, or claimed by, a 18 dependant of a deceased worker under the Fatal 19 Accidents Act 1959 for an injury causing the 20 death of the worker; or 21 (c) damages due or payable to, or claimed on 22 behalf of, the estate of a deceased worker under 23 the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) 24 Act 1941 for an injury causing the death of the 25 worker; or 26 (d) the amount of any contribution or indemnity 27 due or payable to, or claimed by, a concurrent 28 tortfeasor under the Law Reform (Contributory 29 Negligence and Tortfeasors' Contribution) page 3 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 Part 2 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 amended s. 5 1 Act 1947 in respect of an injury to, or death of, 2 a worker, 3 but does not include a liability imposed by contract that 4 would not arise as a coordinate liability in negligence 5 or other tort or breach of statutory duty; 6 deemed worker, in relation to an employer, means -- 7 (a) a worker of whom the employer would not be 8 the employer, but for being deemed by 9 section 175(1) to be the employer; or 10 (b) a person to whom the employer would be liable 11 to pay compensation in the circumstances 12 described in section 175AA(5)(a); 13 insurable damages means damages in respect of which 14 an employer is required by section 160(1)(b) to insure; 15 16 5. Section 160 amended 17 (1) Delete section 160(1)(b) and insert: 18 19 (b) the amount of the employer's liability to pay 20 damages to or in respect of any worker 21 employed by the employer, other than a 22 deemed worker of the employer, in respect of a 23 compensable injury for which the employer is 24 liable. 25 26 (2) Delete section 160(3) and insert: 27 28 (3) An approved insurance office is to insure any employer 29 requesting it for the amount of the liabilities for which 30 the employer is required by subsection (1) to insure. 31 Penalty: a fine of $2 000. 32 page 4 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 Part 2 amended s. 6 1 (3) In section 160(4)(a) delete "damages in respect of compensable 2 injuries for which the employer is liable; and" and insert: 3 4 insurable damages; and 5 6 6. Section 161A amended 7 In section 161A delete "damages in respect of compensable 8 injuries for which the employer is liable" and insert: 9 10 insurable damages 11 12 7. Section 165 amended 13 (1) In section 165(2)(d) delete "damages in respect of compensable 14 injuries for which the employer is liable," and insert: 15 16 insurable damages, 17 18 (2) In section 165(3)(a) delete "damages in respect of compensable 19 injuries for which the employer is liable; or" and insert: 20 21 insurable damages; or 22 23 8. Section 168 amended 24 Delete section 168(b)(iii) and insert: 25 26 (iii) there are no outstanding or potential -- 27 (I) claims for compensation; or page 5 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 Part 2 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 amended s. 9 1 (II) actions for insurable damages; 2 or 3 4 9. Section 169 replaced 5 Delete section 169 and insert: 6 7 169. Terms of insurance and form of policies 8 (1) The regulations may -- 9 (a) limit, modify or exclude any requirement in 10 section 160(1) to obtain or keep current an 11 insurance policy in respect of liabilities arising 12 in prescribed circumstances or out of prescribed 13 events; and 14 (b) limit the amount for which an employer is 15 required by section 160(1) to obtain or keep 16 current an insurance policy; and 17 (c) otherwise limit, modify or exclude the 18 requirement in section 160(1) to obtain or keep 19 current an insurance policy. 20 (2) The regulations may prescribe any or all of the terms 21 and conditions of an insurance policy required by 22 section 160(1). 23 (3) The regulations may prescribe the form of any 24 insurance policy required by section 160(1). 25 26 10. Section 174 amended 27 (1) In section 174(1) delete "shall" and insert: 28 29 is, subject to subsection (5AA), to 30 page 6 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 Part 2 amended s. 10 1 (2) In section 174(1AA) -- 2 (a) before paragraph (d) insert: 3 4 (da) the damages awarded or agreed are, or include, 5 insurable damages; and 6 7 (b) in paragraph (d) after "to pay" insert: 8 9 the insurable 10 11 (c) in paragraph (d) after "claim for" insert: 12 13 insurable 14 15 (d) delete "subject to section 174AAA, WorkCover WA is" 16 and insert: 17 18 Workcover WA is, subject to subsection (5AA) and 19 section 174AAA, 20 21 (e) after "the amount required to satisfy the judgment or 22 agreement" insert: 23 24 to the extent that the judgment or agreement provides 25 for the payment of insurable damages, 26 27 (3) After section 174(5) insert: 28 29 (5AA) Where WorkCover WA is to make a payment under 30 subsection (1) or (1AA) to a worker in respect of an 31 injury -- 32 (a) the amount of that payment is to be reduced 33 by any amount of compensation payable to page 7 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 Part 2 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 amended s. 11 1 the worker by any employer in respect of the 2 injury; and 3 (b) the employer paying that compensation has 4 no right under section 92 or 93 to recovery 5 of, or indemnity for, the compensation from 6 the worker. 7 (5AB) Nothing in this section requires WorkCover WA to 8 make any payment to the employer of a worker or to 9 any person who is deemed by section 175(1) to be 10 the employer of a worker. 11 12 (4) In section 174(9) delete "or to pay damages to a worker in 13 respect of a compensable injury,". 14 11. Section 174AB amended 15 In section 174AB(1) delete "damages in respect of a 16 compensable injury for which the employer is liable," and 17 insert: 18 19 damages which are, or which include, insurable damages, 20 21 12. Section 175 amended 22 After section 175(2) insert: 23 24 (3A) The indemnity conferred by subsection (2) does not 25 allow the principal to recover from the worker -- 26 (a) any amount which the worker receives from the 27 contractor by way of compensation or damages 28 in respect of a compensable injury; or 29 (b) any amount which the worker receives from 30 WorkCover WA under section 174 in respect of page 8 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 Part 2 amended s. 12 1 the contractor's liability to pay compensation or 2 damages to the worker. 3 (3B) The indemnity conferred by subsection (2) does not 4 allow the principal to recover any amount from 5 WorkCover WA. 6 page 9 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 Part 3 Transitional s. 13 1 Part 3 -- Transitional 2 13. Terms used 3 In this Part -- 4 Part X means the Workers' Compensation and Injury 5 Management Act 1981 Part X; 6 transitional period means the period beginning on 7 1 October 2011 and ending when Part 2 of this Act comes into 8 operation. 9 14. Things done or omitted during the transitional period 10 (1) Anything done during the transitional period that -- 11 (a) did not comply with a provision of Part X; and 12 (b) would have complied with that provision if done 13 immediately after the transitional period, 14 is taken to have complied with that provision at the time it was 15 done. 16 (2) Where -- 17 (a) during the transitional period, an employer does not 18 obtain or keep current an insurance policy under Part X 19 for a liability of a particular kind to a particular person; 20 and 21 (b) the employer is taken under subsection (1) to have 22 complied with a provision of Part X requiring it to 23 obtain or keep current such a policy, 24 an insurer who has issued to the employer a liability insurance 25 policy other than for the purposes of Part X may not reject a 26 claim under that policy on the grounds that the claim relates to a 27 liability for which the employer was required under Part X to 28 insure. 29 (3) In this section a reference to doing anything includes a reference 30 to omitting to do that thing. page 10 Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Amendment Bill 2012 Transitional Part 3 s. 15 1 15. Validity of terms, conditions and exclusions of insurance 2 policies effected during the transitional period 3 A term, condition or exclusion of an insurance policy obtained 4 or kept current during the transitional period for the purposes of 5 Part X which, if the policy were obtained immediately after the 6 transitional period, would be valid, lawful and effective is taken 7 to be valid, lawful and effective from the time when the policy 8 was obtained or, if later, from the beginning of the transitional 9 period.
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