(1) Where there is a
dispute between employers as to liability but no dispute that the worker is
entitled to compensation from some employer for a fresh injury or the
recurrence of an old injury the employer of the worker at the time of the
latest injury or recurrence is liable to pay compensation under this Act until
the question of which employer is liable or how liability is to be apportioned
between employers has been resolved.
(2) The worker or his
dependants, if so required by the employer first liable to pay compensation,
shall furnish to him the name and address of any employer in whose employment
the worker was when any like injury previously occurred, as he or they may
possess.
(3) If the worker has
filed an application for compensation, the respondent employer shall join as a
party any other employer whom he alleges is wholly or partially liable to pay
the compensation.
(4) If the worker has
not filed an application the employer first liable to pay compensation may
apply for determination by an arbitrator of the question of whether some other
employer is wholly or partially liable to pay compensation.
(5) If an arbitrator
finds that it was a recurrence and not a fresh injury or partly a recurrence
and partly a fresh injury, the arbitrator may order that other employer to pay
to the applicant employer the whole or a part of the amount of compensation
paid to the worker and to pay any further compensation to which the worker is
entitled.
(6) If the dispute
between employers is in respect of liability to pay compensation for noise
induced hearing loss under section 24A or 31E, WorkCover WA shall provide an
arbitrator dealing with the dispute with copies of the results of any relevant
audiometric tests stored by WorkCover WA under clause 5(2) of Schedule 7.
[Section 73 amended: No. 36 of 1988 s. 11; No. 96
of 1990 s. 16; No. 48 of 1993 s. 28(1); No. 42 of 2004 s. 59, 147, 149 and
150.]