Reconsiderations are not always carried out at the request of a party to a determination; the employee, claimant or the Commonwealth. In some cases, it may be considered necessary for an MRCC Delegate to carry out a review of his or her 'own motion'. A Delegate who made a determination is a 'determining authority' for the purposes of Subsection 60(1) of the Act in relation to that determination. Basically, if a Delegate considers that his/her original decision was incorrect or in some way flawed, it is open to the Delegate either to:
- reconsider the determination himself or herself, or
- arrange for the determination to be reconsidered by another Delegate who was not involved in making the original decision; in other words, by a Reconsideration Delegate (RD) at delegation level 6 or above.
Although all Delegates have the right to carry out a review of their own decisions, the MRCC has a strict policy that such action should only be taken where the result of any such reconsideration will be, or would be, favourable to the employee or claimant. If a Delegate considers, either in light of new evidence or because of a different interpretation of the original evidence, that a decision was wrong and that a reconsideration should be carried out, he or she must discuss the matter with a RD at level 6 or above or with the local MRCC Manager. In cases where it is proposed to revoke or to cease liability in a given case, the MRCC has strict procedures which must be followed. Please refer to section 53.3 of the Liability Handbook.