(1) This section
applies where —
(a) a
claim for compensation by way of weekly payments for total or partial
incapacity has been made on an employer in accordance with section 178(1)(b);
and
(b) the
worker suffering the injury has served on the employer a certificate signed by
a medical practitioner —
(i)
in or to the effect of the form prescribed containing
substantially the information sought in the form; or
(ii)
to the effect that the worker is unfit for work because
of a recurrence of an injury in respect of which a certificate as referred to
in subparagraph (i) has previously been served,
and the employer
(whether in contravention of section 160, in accordance with an exemption
under section 164, as a result of the insurer declining to indemnify the
employer, or otherwise) is not indemnified by a policy of insurance against
his liability to pay the compensation claimed.
(2) In the
circumstances mentioned in subsection (1), an employer must, before the
expiration of 17 days after those circumstances arose —
(a) if
liability to make the weekly payments claimed is accepted, subject to
subsection (6), make the first of those weekly payments; or
(b)
subject to section 75, give the worker notice, in accordance with section 57BA
and the regulations, that liability is disputed in respect of all or any of
the weekly payments claimed; or
(c) give
the Director and the worker notice, in accordance with section 57BA and the
regulations, that a decision as to whether or not liability is to be accepted
in respect of the weekly payments claimed is not able to be made within the
time allowed by this subsection.
Penalty: $1 000.
(2a) If within 10 days
after the Director is notified under subsection (2)(c) that a decision is not
able to be made, the employer has not —
(a) if
liability to make the weekly payments claimed is accepted, notified the
Director accordingly and, subject to subsection (6), made the first of those
weekly payments; or
(b)
subject to section 75, notified the worker and the Director that liability is
disputed in respect of all or any of the weekly payments claimed and of the
reasons why it is disputed,
the claim by the
worker shall be deemed to be disputed.
(2b) When an insurer
declines to indemnify an employer against the employer’s liability to
pay the compensation claimed, the insurer shall, before the expiration of 14
days after the claim was made by the employer, notify WorkCover WA to that
effect and of the reasons for declining to indemnify.
Penalty: $1 000.
(3) Where the Director
has requested an employer to do so, the employer shall cause each notification
to the Director under subsection (2)(c) to be accompanied by a means specified
by the Director for conveying to the Director, in a machine-readable form so
specified, the information contained in the notification.
Penalty: $1 000.
(4) Where an employer
fails to comply with subsection (2) upon a worker claiming compensation by way
of weekly payments under this Act, the worker is, by force of this subsection,
entitled to the weekly payments claimed and the employer shall, subject to
subsection (6), forthwith make the first of those weekly payments, but the
employer may apply for a determination under subsection (5).
(5) On an application
under subsection (4) an arbitrator may determine the entitlement that the
worker would have had but for the operation of subsection (4), and thereupon
the entitlement of the worker is as so determined but without affecting his
entitlement under subsection (4) in respect of the period before that
determination.
(6) An employer is not
required under subsection (2) or (4) to make any weekly payment unless —
(a) the
worker has complied with the requirements of sections 178 and 179; or
(b) on
an application made under section 58, an arbitrator has ordered the
commencement of weekly payments under this section notwithstanding that those
requirements have not been complied with.
(7) After the first of
the weekly payments, subsequent weekly payments to which a worker is entitled
shall be made on an employer’s usual pay days.
(8) An employer who
fails to make a weekly payment by the due date under subsection (2), (4) or
(7) commits an offence.
Penalty for each weekly payment not made when due:
a fine of $2 000.
[Section 57B inserted: No. 96 of 1990 s. 8;
amended: No. 72 of 1992 s. 7; No. 48 of 1993 s. 28(1) and 35; No. 34 of 1999
s. 12; No. 42 of 2004 s. 42, 146, 147, 150 and 154(4); No. 31 of 2011 s. 91.]