Gazette of Work Injury Compensation Act (Amendment of Third Schedule) Order 2015
The Work Injury Compensation Act (Amendment of Third Schedule) Order 2015 has been gazetted and published on 5 October 2015. It will come into operation on 1 January 2016.
The maximum and minimum compensation limits for death and total permanent incapacity under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA) will be increased. The cap on medical expenses will also be raised from $30,000 to $36,000. The new amounts are appended below:
| Limits |
Existing |
For accidents that happened on and after 1 Jan 2016 |
| Death - Minimum |
$57,000 |
$69,000 |
| Death - Maximum |
$170,000 |
$204,000 |
| Total Permanent Incapacity* - Minimum |
$73,000 |
$88,000 |
| Total Permanent Incapacity* - Maximum |
$218,000 |
$262,000 |
| Medical Expenses |
Up to $30,000 or 1 year from date of accident, whichever is reached first |
Up to $36,000 or 1 year from date of accident, whichever is reached first |
* This excludes the additional 25% compensation that is paid to workers with total permanent incapacity to offset the cost of care for the injured worker.
Treatments that facilitate return to work will also be claimable as part of WICA medical expenses. This would cover charges for case management, functional capacity evaluation and worksite assessment for purposes of rehabilitating an injured employee back to work.
For information
For more information, please refer to the Work Injury Compensation Act (Amendment of Third Schedule) Order 2015.