The Workers Compensation Amendment (Lump Sum Compensation claims) Regulation 2015 was published on 13 November 2015 and is effective from this date.

The Workers Compensation Regulation 2010 is amended to provide that if a worker had made a claim for lump sum compensation for permanent impairment pursuant to section 66 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (1987 Act) before 19 June 21012, then the worker will be entitled to make one further claim for lump sum compensation in respect to any increase in the degree of permanent impairment arising from the same injury.

There is no threshold hold for these further claims so the degree of permanent impairment in respect of the further claim is NOT required to be greater than 10%.  A further claim made on or after 19 June 2012 which was withdrawn or dismissed and which did not result in any compensation payment is not regarded as the one further claim.

A worker who received lump sum compensation for permanent impairment in respect to a claim made on or after 12 June 1021 is not entitled to a further claim.

There will be no entitlement to lump sum compensation pursuant to the repealed section 67 of the 1987 Act with respect to the further claim

As section 66(3) of the 1987 Act still applies as to the determination of the amount of compensation so there is still ambiguity about the measure of the degree of permanent impairs for pre 2002 injuries.

This is an extract from WIRO WIRE dated 13 November.  For how this may effect your past workers compensation claim, please contact Coastal Compensation Law Specialists for further advice.