Legislative Amendments

Return to Work Legislation Amendment Act 2020

The Return to Work Legislation Amendment Act 2020 was enacted on 29 July 2020. It reversed a number of changes made to the legislation in 2015 and improves the operation of the NT Workers Compensation Scheme.

The Act amends the name of the workers’ compensation medical certificate, to Certificate of Capacity and the meaning of worker to:

• Clarify that a person is a worker if they are an employee for PAYG purposes even if the employer is not complying with the PAYG provisions.
• Clarify that an Australian Business Number is not a determinant factor in establishing whether or not a person is a worker.
• Deem that all individuals who work for a labour hire organisation are workers under the Act.
• Expand the definition of worker so that any immediate family member who is not living with the employer will be covered for workers’ compensation irrespective of whether they are named in the policy.
• Expand the categories of domestic workers that can be covered for workers’ compensation.

The Act enables:

• Reasonable and necessary household services to include the reasonable costs of childcare in certain circumstances.
• Settlement provisions to provide that for a catastrophically injured person the settlement is void if that settlement involves an amount that finalises a claim for any medical, rehabilitation and related expenses.

The Act introduces:

• Rebuttable presumption for first responders that PTSD is taken to be work related for the purpose of claiming workers’ compensation.
• Definitions of ‘Labour Hire Arrangement’ and ‘Provider of Labour Hire Services.’
• Exceptions for the recovery of overpayments from workers made under the Act if the benefit payable was incorrectly calculated and payment was made 6 months prior to requesting recovery of the overpaid amount.
• A requirement for the insurer/employer to accept liability for proposed medical treatment unless they have a contrary medical opinion.

The Act reinstates:

• Coverage for journey claims as applicable prior to the 2015 amendments which covers injuries sustained on a journey to and from work other than those that involve the use of a motor vehicle. Such injuries are covered under the Motor Accidents Compensation (MAC) scheme.
• Removal of the cap on normal weekly earnings. This has removed the 2015 amendments provided for a cap of 250% of average weekly earnings to be placed on a worker’s normal weekly earnings after the first 26 weeks of incapacity.

Amendments to Return to Work Regulations 1986

The amendments to the Return to Work Regulations 1986 defines first responder as a person with specialised training (such as a paramedic, police officer, fire-fighter, or other emergency personnel), who attends the site of an incident and provides assistance for an actual or potential injury to persons or damage to property, undertakes a risk to the first responder and where time may be of the essence to save lives and property. The regulations outlines that PTSD applies to all work as a first responder, including as a volunteer, but not including a person trained as a first responder who has not attended in person at an emergency situation or incident.

The amendments also include 4 additional presumptive cancers for firefighters pursuant to Regulation 5B:

• Asbestos related diseases
• Skin cancer
• Lung cancer
• Liver cancer.