New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORKPLACE INJURY MANAGEMENT AND WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1998 - SECT 260

260 How a claim is made

(1) A claim must be made in accordance with the applicable requirements of the Workers Compensation Guidelines.

(2) The Workers Compensation Guidelines may make provision for or with respect to the following matters in connection with the making of a claim--

(a) the form in which a claim is to be made,

(b) the manner in which a claim is to be made,

(c) the means by which a claim may be made,

(d) the information that a claim is to contain,

(e) requiring specified documents and other material to accompany or form part of a claim,

(f) such other matters as may be prescribed by the regulations.

(3) Without limiting this section, the Workers Compensation Guidelines can require that a claim be accompanied by a form of authority signed by the claimant and authorising a provider of medical or related treatment, hospital treatment or workplace rehabilitation services to the claimant in connection with the injury to which the claim relates to give the insurer concerned information regarding the treatment or service provided or the worker's medical condition or treatment relevant to the claim.

(4) The Workers Compensation Guidelines can also provide for any of the following matters in connection with the making of a claim--

(a) waiving the requirement for the making of a claim in specified cases (such as cases in which notice of injury has been given or provisional weekly payments of compensation have commenced),

(b) providing for the time at which a claim is taken to have been made in any case in which the requirement for the making of a claim has been waived,

(c) providing for the time when a claim is taken to have been made in a case in which requirements of the Guidelines with respect to the making of the claim have been complied with at different times.

(5) The failure to make a claim as required by this section is not a bar to the recovery of compensation or work injury damages if it is found that the failure was occasioned by ignorance, mistake or other reasonable cause or because of a minor defect in form or style.

(6) Except to the extent that the Workers Compensation Guidelines otherwise provide, an insurer can waive a requirement of those Guidelines with respect to the making of a claim on the insurer.

(7) The Workers Compensation Guidelines can require an insurer to notify a worker of any failure by the worker to comply with a requirement of those Guidelines with respect to the making of a claim, and can provide for the waiver of any such failure by the worker if the insurer fails to give the required notification.