This article applies to all subscribers in Victoria.
Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (WorkCover Scheme Modernisation) Bill 2023 (Vic)
The Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (WorkCover Scheme Modernisation) Bill 2023 (Vic) (the Bill) passed the Victorian Parliament on 6 March 2024. The Bill will commence on a day or days to be proclaimed or 31 March 2024, whichever is sooner.
Operationally Significant Changes
The Bill inserts a range of amendments into the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic) (the Act). The most significant changes (from an operational perspective), include:
- introducing the definition of mental injury; and
- replacing section 163(1) of the Act to provide that a worker’s entitlement to weekly payments will cease after 130 weeks unless the Authority or self-insurer determines that the worker has no current work capacity and is likely to continue indefinitely to have no current work capacity and has a whole person impairment of more than 20 per cent resulting from one or more compensable injuries.
Further Information
New definition of “mental injury”
The new definition of mental injury means an injury that:
- causes significant behavioural, cognitive or psychological dysfunction; and
- is diagnosed by a medical practitioner in accordance with the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
The new definition in effect “raises the bar” as to what is now compensable under the Act in respect of mental health. The new section 40(1A) of the Act provides that workers suffering stress and burnout that has arisen from events that may be considered usual or typical and reasonably expected to occur in the course of the worker’s duties will no longer be able to access weekly WorkCover benefits. They will, however, still be eligible for 13 weeks of provisional payments under Division 10 of Part 5 of the Act.
Continuation of payments
In addition to the change to section 163(1) of the Act, section 163(3)(b) has been amended to provide that where a worker has been deemed eligible to continue to receive payments beyond 130 weeks, the Authority or self-insurer must review the work capacity of the worker as often as reasonably necessary and not less than once every 2 years.
Please click here to access the full Bill.