New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORKPLACE INJURY MANAGEMENT AND WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1998 - SECT 65

65 Making a claim for compensation

(cf former s 92)

(1) A claim for compensation must be--

(a) in writing, and

(b) in such form or contain such information as may be prescribed by the regulations or approved by the Authority, and

(c) in the case of a claim for weekly payments of compensation--accompanied by a medical certificate that is in or to the effect of the approved form, or that is in any other form and contains information that is reasonably sufficient in the circumstances to assist in the determination of the claim, and

(d) accompanied by such additional medical certificates or other documents as may be prescribed by the regulations, and

(e) made in the manner prescribed by section 66.

(2) A claim for compensation need not be accompanied by a medical certificate or other document under this section if the medical certificate or document relates to information that is substantially available to the person on whom the claim is made from other appropriate documentation given or served by or on behalf of the claimant.

(3) To the extent that information has been furnished or material provided in the course of the making of a claim for compensation, it is not necessary to furnish that information or provide that material when making any further claim for compensation in respect of the same injury.

(4) The medical certificate required to accompany a claim for weekly payments of compensation must (unless the claim is a claim under section 10, 11 or 12 of the 1987 Act) include a statement of the medical practitioner's opinion (however expressed) concerning the likelihood of the worker's employment being a substantial contributing factor to the injury or whether the worker's condition is consistent with his or her employment being such a factor.

(5) If a claim is deficient because subsection (4) has not been complied with and the insurer or self-insurer concerned notifies the worker in writing of the deficiency (including details of what is required to comply with that subsection) as soon as possible after receiving the deficient claim then (unless the insurer or self-insurer waives that requirement)--

(a) the claim is not considered to have been duly made for the purposes of section 93 until subsection (4) is complied with, and

(b) court proceedings cannot be commenced in respect of the claim until subsection (4) is complied with.

(6) All claims for compensation under sections 66 and 67 of the 1987 Act in respect of an injury must, as far as practicable, be made at the same time. A legal practitioner or agent who acts for a worker when such a claim is made is not entitled to recover any costs from the worker or the employer in relation to any such claim made later (including such a claim made by later amendment of court proceedings) unless there is a good reason for the claim being made later.

(7) Compensation may not be recovered under this Act unless a claim for the compensation has been made within 6 months after the injury or accident happened or, in the case of death, within 6 months of the date of death.

(8) If a claim for compensation was made by an injured worker within the period required by subsection (7), that subsection does not apply to a claim for compensation in respect of the death of the worker resulting from the injury to which the worker's claim related.

(9) For the purposes of subsection (7), a person is considered to have made a claim for compensation when the person makes any claim for compensation under this Act in respect of the injury or death concerned, even if the person's claim did not relate to the particular compensation in question.

(10) If there is no entitlement to compensation under section 66 of the 1987 Act for a loss of hearing because of section 69A of the 1987 Act (No compensation for less than 6% hearing loss) notice of injury given in accordance with section 62 suffices (for the purposes of this section) as a claim for the compensation concerned.

(11) If a claim for compensation and any medical certificate or other document required to accompany the claim are not given or served at the same time, the claim for compensation is taken not to have been made until the day on which the last of those documents is given or served. In that case, all of those documents are taken to have accompanied the claim.

(12) The failure to make a claim in accordance with subsection (1) is not a bar to the recovery of compensation if it is found that the failure was occasioned by ignorance, mistake or other reasonable cause.

(13) The failure to make a claim within the period required by subsection (7) is not a bar to the recovery of compensation if it is found that the failure was occasioned by ignorance, mistake, absence from the State or other reasonable cause, and either--

(a) the claim is made within 3 years after the injury or accident happened or, in the case of death, within 3 years after the date of death, or

(b) the claim is not made within that 3 years but the claim is in respect of an injury resulting in the death or serious and permanent disablement of a worker.

(14) The failure to make a claim within the period required by subsection (7) is not a bar to the recovery of compensation if the insurer or self-insurer concerned determines to accept the claim outside that period. An insurer or self-insurer cannot determine to accept a claim made more than 3 years after the injury or accident happened or after the date of death (as appropriate) except with the approval of the Authority.

(15) If an injured worker first becomes aware that he or she has received an injury after the injury was received, the injury is for the purposes of subsections (7) and (13) taken to have been received when the worker first became so aware. If death results from an injury and a person who is entitled to claim compensation under this Act in respect of the death first becomes aware after the death that the death resulted or is likely to have resulted from the injury, the date of death is, for the purposes of the application of subsections (7) and (13) to a claim by that person, taken to be the date that the person became so aware.

(16) In a case where 2 or more persons are liable or partly liable in respect of compensation (whether or not that liability arises from the same or from different injuries) a claim for the compensation is for the purposes of this section taken to have been made when a claim is made on any one of those persons.

(17) When particulars of any injury received by a worker are entered in a register of injuries kept by the employer under this Act, the making of that entry suffices for the purposes of subsections (7) and (13) as the making of a claim for compensation in respect of the injury.

(18) In this section,
"approved form" , in relation to a medical certificate, means a form in or to the effect of--

(a) a form approved by the Authority for the purposes of this section or any form previously approved by the Authority for the purposes of this section, or

(b) any form previously prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this section.

(19) The regulations may provide that, despite subsection (18), the approved form of a medical certificate must be in or to the effect of a particular form only in the case of any specified class of claims for compensation.

(20) The claim form prescribed by the regulations or approved by the Authority for the purposes of this section can include a form of authority to be signed by the claimant and authorising a provider of medical or related treatment, hospital treatment or workplace rehabilitation service to the claimant in connection with the injury to which the claim relates to give the insurer or self-insurer concerned or a conciliator information regarding the treatment or service provided or the worker's medical condition or treatment relevant to the claim.