When a person is incapacitated for part of a week or their incapacity falls over a period of a whole week/s plus a part of a week i.e. a week and 1 day, then compensation is calculated using the following formula:
When a week should commence is not defined by either the SRCA or MRCA. A week should be considered to be:
'A period of seven consecutive days commencing on the first day the period of incapacity commences.'
Once the commencement of a week has been determined, the week should remain constant for that period of incapacity.
Actual hours should reflect the amount of hours the person is actually working in employment. Where a person is participating in a graduated return to work plan, the actual hours the person is working should be confirmed.
Normal weekly hours (NWH) are defined in the SRCA as the number of normal weekly hours worked by the employee (person) before his or her incapacity.
Normal Weekly Hours (NWH) are defined in subsection 132(2) of the MRCA and section 158 for part-time reservists.
Subsection 19(3) of the SRCA and section 131 of the MRCA provides that after 45 weeks of incapacity the compensation entitlement are multiplied by an adjustment percentage. The value of this percentage is dependent on the % of NWH actually worked in that week.
Once the maximum rate week period ceases the person is paid a reduced compensation amount. If the maximum rate week period ceases during a week, the person is paid at the maximum rate amount for part of that week (corresponding to the days remaining in the maximum rate period) plus the reduced rate amount for the remaining period.
In order to accurately and fairly calculate the effect of reserve force incapacity on the 45 weeks entitlement it is necessary to express the 45 week entitlement as a total dollar liability. This assists in overcoming the conceptual difference between normal weekly hours in civilian employment and normal weekly hours in Reserve employment.
The period for which a person has received incapacity payments while in service are counted toward the person’s maximum rate compensation weeks.
Any weekly incapacity payments made to serving Permanent Forces members will normally be made in respect of a medical downgrading, resulting in loss of pay level, or for the loss of allowances due to an inability to perform a certain activity or function. A week for PF members is taken to be 7 days.
The underlying principle is that each hour for which compensation is payable either in full i.e. when the person is not working or by way of a payment when a person is in employment (employment at the same level but less hours or in employment at a lower level) is counted towards the calculation of maximum rate compensation weeks.
In practice delegates would not be required to manually calculate maximum rate (compensation) weeks but should be aware of whether a person is considered continuously incapacitated for a period of incapacity.
Whether a person is continuously incapacitated affects the calculation of the maximum rate (compensation) weeks. When a person is only incapacitated for part of a week, i.e. one day, then the person is not continuously incapacitated. Only that part of the week that they are incapacitated for is counted in the calculations of the maximum rate (compensation) weeks (the rate of entitlement though is based on a weekly figure and is calculated over a weekly period).
