Western Australian Current Acts

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WORKERS' COMPENSATION AND INJURY MANAGEMENT ACT 1981 - SECT 20

20 .         Compensation not payable unless worker’s employment connected with WA

        (1)         In this section —

        State , in a geographical sense, includes a State’s relevant adjacent area as described in Schedule 6.

        (2)         Compensation under this Act is only payable in respect of employment that is connected with this State.

        (3)         The fact that a worker is outside this State when the injury occurs does not prevent compensation being payable under this Act in respect of employment that is connected with this State.

        (4)         A worker’s employment is connected with —

            (a)         the State in which the worker usually works in that employment; or

            (b)         if no State or no one State is identified by paragraph (a), the State in which the worker is usually based for the purposes of that employment; or

            (c)         if no State or no one State is identified by paragraph (a) or (b), the State in which the employer’s principal place of business in Australia is located.

        (5)         In the case of a worker working on a ship, if no State or no one State is identified by subsection (4), a worker’s employment is, while working on a ship, connected with the State in which the ship is registered or (if the ship is registered in more than one State) the State in which the ship most recently became registered.

        (6)         If no State is identified by subsection (4) or (if applicable) (5), a worker’s employment is connected with this State if —

            (a)         a worker is in this State when the injury occurs; and

            (b)         there is no place outside Australia under the legislation of which the worker may be entitled to compensation for the same matter.

        (7)         In deciding whether a worker usually works in a State, regard must be had to —

            (a)         the worker’s work history with the employer over the preceding period of 12 months; and

            (b)         the intentions of the worker and employer,

                but regard must not be had to any temporary arrangement under which the worker works in a State for a period of not longer than 6 months.

        (8)         Subject to subsection (7), in deciding whether a worker usually works in a State or is usually based in a State for the purposes of employment, regard must be had to any period during which a worker works in a State or is in a State for the purposes of employment whether or not under the statutory workers’ compensation scheme of that State the person is regarded as a worker or as working or employed in that State.

        (9)         Compensation under this Act does not apply in respect of the employment of a worker on a ship if the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992 of the Commonwealth applies to the worker’s employment.

        [Section 20 inserted: No. 36 of 2004 s. 7; amended: No. 36 of 2004 s. 17(4).]



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