Western Australian Numbered Acts

WORKERS COMPENSATION AND INJURY MANAGEMENT ACT 2023 (NO. 21 OF 2023) - SECT 225

225 .         Effect of avoidance arrangement on compensation and insurance

        (1)         If a worker suffers an injury and the worker and the employer agree or an arbitrator determines that when the injury occurred the worker was doing work for the employer under an avoidance arrangement —

            (a)         the employer is liable to pay any compensation that the employer would have been liable to pay in respect of the injury if the worker had been the employer’s worker when the work was done; and

            (b)         any workers compensation policy that the employer has in respect of the period when the work was done extends to the employer’s liability under paragraph (a) to pay compensation and the insurer under the policy is entitled to indemnity from the employer for the cost of satisfying the insurer’s liability under this paragraph; and

            (c)         the company is relieved of its duties and liabilities, if any, under this Act in respect of the payment of compensation to the worker, and in respect of its duties, if any, under Part 3 Division 2 in respect of the worker; and

            (d)         Subdivision 2 does not apply so as to entitle the employer to an indemnity from the company or the worker.

        (2)         If the employer is liable under this section to pay compensation, this Act applies for purposes related to the compensation and duties under Part 3 Division 2 and matters related to the compensation and those duties as if —

            (a)         the employer were the actual employer of the worker; and

            (b)         for the purpose of calculating the amount of compensation, a reference to the earnings of the worker were a reference to the earnings of the company to the extent that those earnings were for work done for the employer by the worker on behalf of the company.

        (3)         The employer or any person on behalf of the employer, or an insurer of the employer or any person on the insurer’s behalf, must not, directly or indirectly, take or receive any money or indemnity from the company or the worker in respect of any liability of the employer or the company to pay compensation in respect of the worker under this Act.

        Penalty for this subsection: a fine of $15 000.

        (4)         An indemnity taken or received in contravention of this section is void.

        (5)         If money is taken or received in contravention of subsection (3), whether with the consent of the company or the worker or not, the company or the worker, as the case requires, may sue and recover the amount of that money from the person who took or received it.