New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORKPLACE INJURY MANAGEMENT AND WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1998 - SECT 102

102 Restrictions on commencing court proceedings for lump sum compensation

(cf former s 106FC)

(1) A worker cannot commence court proceedings in respect of compensation under section 66 of the 1987 Act unless a dispute about that compensation has been referred for conciliation under Division 3 and either--

(a) the conciliator has issued a conciliation certificate that indicates that conciliation was wholly or partially unsuccessful, or

(b) a period of 42 days (or such other period as may be prescribed by the regulations) has elapsed after the dispute was referred for conciliation,

whichever happens first.

(2) Further, if the conciliator has issued a conciliation certificate indicating that conciliation was successful, the worker cannot commence court proceedings as referred to in subsection (1) unless a dispute about the compensation has subsequently been referred for conciliation under Division 3 and either--

(a) the conciliator has issued a further conciliation certificate, or

(b) a period of 21 days (or such other period as may be prescribed by the regulations) has elapsed after the dispute was subsequently referred for conciliation,

whichever happens first.

(3) A worker cannot refer a dispute about compensation under section 66 of the 1987 Act for conciliation under Division 3 until--

(a) 12 weeks after the claim for the compensation is duly made, or

(b) the person on whom the claim is made disputes liability to pay the compensation,

whichever happens first.

(4) If the person on whom a claim for compensation under section 66 of the 1987 Act is made has, within 12 weeks after that claim is duly made, duly applied under section 122 for reference of the matter to a medical panel, the worker can commence court proceedings in respect of that compensation 14 days after the panel has given its certificate under that section even if subsection (1) or (2) would otherwise prevent commencement of proceedings at that time.

(5) A worker cannot commence court proceedings in respect of compensation under section 67 of the 1987 Act for pain and suffering resulting from a loss or further loss, or for related compensation, until this section allows the commencement of proceedings in respect of compensation under section 66 of the 1987 Act for the loss or further loss.
"Related compensation" is compensation under Division 3 of Part 3 of the 1987 Act that relates to that loss, further loss or pain and suffering.

(6) When a claim that is the subject of court proceedings is amended to include a claim (or further claim) for compensation under section 66 of the 1987 Act, the proceedings are to be adjourned until--

(a) 12 weeks after the claim was amended, or

(b) 12 weeks after the worker has provided the employer with particulars (including a supporting medical report) sufficient to enable the employer to ascertain the nature and amount of the compensation to which the amendment relates,

whichever is later.

(7) The parties to proceedings can agree, or the Compensation Court can order, that there be no adjournment or a shorter adjournment of the proceedings under subsection (6).

(8) A claim for compensation that is the subject of court proceedings cannot be amended to include a claim for compensation under section 67 of the 1987 Act unless the amendment includes particulars of the amount of compensation claimed under that section. The amount claimed is not to be stated to be the maximum amount of compensation under that section except in a most extreme case, as referred to in section 67 (3) of the 1987 Act.

(9) If a worker joins another person as a party to proceedings in respect of a claim for compensation under section 66 or 67 of the 1987 Act without having made a claim on that person before commencing the proceedings, the Compensation Court may, if it considers that the failure to make a claim on the person has prejudiced the person in respect of the proceedings, adjourn the proceedings for such period as the Court considers appropriate to enable the person to properly consider the claim.

(10) This section does not prevent the commencement of court proceedings in any circumstances prescribed by the regulations.