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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3672 ..
MS GALLAGHER (continuing):
Limitations period
The bill will allow the Magistrates Court to accept the out-of-time claims for both statutory and common law workers compensation in certain limited circumstances. The circumstances in which the court can extend the set limitation periods will be consistent with the court's powers to accept out-of-time personal injuries claims under the Limitation Act.Insurers' obligation on notification of injury
Currently, on receiving a notification of an injury, insurers are required to contact the employer, worker or the worker's doctor within three days. This is intended to promote early intervention and injury management. However, for many injuries the requirement to contact the doctor is unnecessary as the worker has often already returned to work.
The bill would amend the act so that insurers are only formally required to make three-point contact for injuries that are likely to or have become "significant injuries"; that is, the worker will be off work for seven days or more. This amendment will give insurers discretion to focus their resources on managing serious injuries and to avoid incurring unnecessary administrative costs to the scheme associated with minor injuries.
Some approved insurers have advised the government that they will continue to make three-point contact for all reported injuries to maintain the emphasis on early intervention and preventative measures. This will continue to be an option for insurers.
Medical certificates
Currently, doctors are required to include on a workers compensation medical certificate their assessment of the likelihood that the injured worker's employment substantially contributed to the worker's injury. Representatives of general practitioners have indicated that, due to limited medical information, many doctors have difficulty in making such an assessment.The bill will delete the requirement for the doctor to assess the likelihood of the injury being substantially caused by work, but retain the requirement that the doctor indicate whether the worker's injury is consistent with the worker's employment being a substantial contributing factor to the injury.
Wage declarations
The government has also taken the opportunity to review and streamline employer reporting requirements under the Workers Compensation Act. The bill will replace existing sections 156 to 162 with new provisions setting out employer reporting requirements on the issuance and renewal of workers compensation policies. The new provisions standardise reporting periods and ensure that in most cases employers will only need to provide one set of wage declarations every six months.
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