Where an act of violence or abuse is involved, there must be a clear link between the medical condition suffered and the act of violenceor abuse, and furthermore, a clear link between the act of violence or abuse and the employment.
The Liability Handbook is about the receipt of new claims and the determination of 'liability' for compensation. This is where you, as Delegate, decide whether the Commonwealth will accept or refuse responsibility for causing (or contributing to) the employee's death, injury or disease.
It is RCG policy to give clients who are to receive an adverse decision, advance warning of that likely outcome. The purpose of that policy is to give that client the opportunity to submit new evidence in the light of your interpretation of the evidence (or the lack of it).
While it is generally not necessary to give advance notice if you are going to determine in the client’s favour, thought should be given to the client and the nature of their claim when deciding if advance notice is appropriate.
The decision – either to concede or deny liability – must be issued to the employee in writing, i.e. as a 'determination', as soon as practicable after that decision has been made. The determination must give reasons for the decision and information on reconsideration rights.
If a claimant is unable to complete the claim form because of blindness or a disability such as mental incapacity, it is appropriate to accept a claim form certified by a person acting in the interests of that person.
In such cases, the name, address and relevant relationship of the person to the client must be provided on or with the claim form.
Section 54(2) of the DRCA requires a claim to be in writing.
A claim for compensation under section 54 and the legislative provision stipulating the requirement for a claim to be made in writing is satisfied during the initial liability claim by the claimant i.e. lodgment of the D2020 claim form. Therefore any ancillary benefits i.e. incapacity or permanent impairment compensation can be claimed by a person without a further claim form or written request.
Subsequent claims for benefits
Section 54(2) requires that a claim for compensation is to be given to the employee's 'relevant authority'. However Part XI of the Act gives the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission this authority in place of Comcare.
Subsections 53(1) and (2) on their own present a strict requirement for provision of timely notice of injury. However, S53(3) modifies this rigour and deems a notice, which is out of time because it was not presented 'as soon as practicable', to be properly given if:
Section 54 of the SRCA specifies several requirements of an application for compensation. As a matter of policy, these requirements also apply to new claims made under former Acts. In general, claims are not acceptable and are not formally recognised as a 'claim' unless these requirements have been met. However, there are several exceptions provided, both under S54 itself, and through Policy on the interpretation of S54.
In short, Delegates are required to:
1.record the receipt of the attempted claim before any other action
The Privacy Act governs the release of information from the client's compensation file to the employer.
Commission must give, to the Chief of Defence Force (CDF), a copy of a claim for liability submitted to it by a person who suffers the injury or contracts the disease while a member of the ADF.
