Changes To Dependency Claims
On 12 July 2017, the Labour Government announced its intention to amend the current laws on Dependency Claim compensation payouts. The Government intends to draft a Bill to amend the Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 (WA) (“the Act”) in order to “streamline” the current dependency claims process, and to remove any legislative impediments that are affecting the rights of family members of deceased workers to receive compensation in certain circumstances.
The proposed changes come after the former Government did not address, nor deal with these issues when the Act was reviewed in June 2014. Ultimately, as noted by Commerce and Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston, the WA Government is “keen to act now and see dependent family members of workers killed on the job receive fair and reasonable compensation, which is prioritised and expedited”.
The proposed Bill will make three significant changes to the current Act, discussed below.
Increased Lump Sum Payment
Lump sum payments for dependents of deceased workers are set to substantially increase. Under the Act, the current lump sum payout is $304,185. The new legislative changes will increase this payout to $554,727, therefore being an increase of over $250,000.00.
These changes will further increase the gap between fatal compensation payouts and non-fatal injuries compensation payouts. Given that the lump sum and periodic payments for dependency claims have consistently been approximately half of what is provided across Australia, the proposed increase is notably justified by the Government.
Increased Child Weekly Allowance
Following a review of the Act, it was noted that the weekly allowance for dependent children needed to change, to ensure adequate support for dependent children of deceased workers. Currently, the weekly allowance amount for dependent children is $58.10. Under the amendments, this amount will increase to $133.00.
Legislative Impediments Removed
Amid reports that the current Act is unfair and very complicated with regards dependency claim payouts, the Government’s stated intention is to improve equality throughout the Act, by ensuring that any legislative impediments are removed. Currently, due to definition provisions, de-facto workers are unable to be compensated in certain circumstances. The Government proposes to address this issue with its amendments, making sure that de-facto workers will no longer be affected to their detriment.