NSW Parliament will introduce new legislation to amend the WorkersCompensation Act, removing the assumption that workers with COVID caught thevirus at work.

Changes to the Act were made in May 2020 and included a presumption thatworkers who contracted COVID had done so at work. Workers will still be ableto claim workers compensation should they contract the virus at work, thislegislation just removes the assumption.

Now armed with greater knowledge of COVID and its transmission, NSW PremierDominic Perrotett said it was time to repeal that section so that businessesaren’t hit with an unexpected spike in their insurance bills.

“When the NSW Government originally made the amendments, we had littleinformation about how COVID-19 was spread and whether it was more likely to becontracted in workplaces, and we certainly didn’t have a vaccine rollout.

“Now that the economy is steadily reopening, we want businesses investing innew staff and higher wages, not inflated insurance bills.”

Paul Zahra, Australian Retail Association (ARA) CEO, said the ARA welcomed theintroduction of the legislation.

“The assumption that anyone with Covid caught the virus at work is nowoutdated, given what we now know about the virus and with NSW now one of themost vaccinated jurisdictions in the world. Failing to remove this assumptionwould expose retail businesses both large and small to workers compensationclaims of $78.8 million.”

Zahra said this amendment will ease the minds of businesses and allow them tolook ahead to the festive season.

“Retailers are looking forward to a further easing of Covid restrictions nextmonth and are ramping up their operations for the all-important Christmastrading period. We need businesses focussed on maximising their tradingpotential, and not worrying about higher insurance costs.”

Tagged: Retail, Workers Compensation

Previous Refuge that houses animals of domestic violence seeking support

Next Feedback requested on proposed breeder licensing scheme