Workers Compensation (ICARE)

Workers Compensation Insurance

If you have employees in NSW, you probably need a workers insurance policy.

A workers insurance policy provides an employer coverage in the event one of their employees suffer a work related injury or illness.

The policy will insure your business against the cost of supporting your injured worker and may include:

weekly compensation benefits 
medical and hospital expenses
rehabilitation services
certain personal items (eg; clothing or spectacles, if damaged in a work related accident)
lump sum payment for death or permanent impairment.

It’s compulsory for all employers in NSW, unless you are considered an ‘exempt employer’.

If you don’t have one, your business may be fined or penalised up to $55,000 and/or six months’ imprisonment.

The minimum premium payable is $175.

We can supply NSW Workers Compensation with your other business lines.

We also can easily arrange cover for other states if required.

If you would like to enquire about Workers Compensation Insurance for your business call (02) 96308788 today!

If you are unsure if you require Workers Compensation Insurance for you staff read the information below supplied by the NSW Government’s Work Cover Website

Do I need Workers Compensation Insurance?

All employers in NSW (except exempt employers) must have a workers compensation policy.

An employer is any person or business entity that employs or hires workers on a full time, part time or casual basis, under an oral or written contract of service or training contract. Working directors of a corporation are considered employees of the corporation.

Worker or contractor (‘deemed worker’)

Some people are ‘deemed’ to be workers for workers compensation purposes. These classes of ‘deemed workers’ include, but are not limited to:

Outworkers
Salespersons, canvassers, and collectors
Contractors under labour hire service arrangements
Rural workers
Boxers, wrestlers, referees and entertainers

See Schedule 1 of the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 for a comprehensive list.

Several factors need to be considered to distinguish an employee from a contractor. These factors are objective and no single factor can be regarded as decisive.

A contractor is more likely to:

Be engaged to carry out a particular task using his or her own skill and judgement
Employ others, delegate or sub-let work to another
Be paid on the basis of a quotation for the job
Supply his or her own tools and materials
Carry on an independent business in his or her own name or under a business or firm name.

Please note that an ABN by itself is not a definite indicator of a person(s) status.

A worker is more likely to:

Be subject to direction from the employer as to the work to be performed and the time and manner in which it is performed
Be required to actually carry out the work
Be paid on a time basis
Have tools and materials supplied by the employer
Work exclusively for a single employer
Be affected by PAYG tax arrangements.

A person may have been hired as a contractor and be a contractor for other purposes such as tax, but still be a worker for the purpose of workers compensation. The status of a person for tax purposes bears no direct relationship to that person’s status as a worker for workers compensation purposes.

The Worker Status Service assists employers by providing certainty and clarity on the status of workers.

Exempt employers

If you’re an employer who pays $7500 or less in annual wages, you don’t employ an apprentice or trainee and you are not a member of a group for premium purposes, then you’re not required to get an insurance policy.

But even if you are exempt you’ll still have the same obligations to provide assistance with injury management and return to work. This includes notifying us on 13 10 50 of any workplace injuries.

Any claim against an exempt employer will incur a $175 administration fee. The claim will be assigned to one of the insurance agents. The same administration fee applies to each injury notified.

If your conditions change in a way that mean you might no longer be exempt (like you realise your annual wages bill has grown larger than $7500), then you must contact an insurance agent immediately to make arrangements to take out a policy.

Trusts and trustees

A working beneficiary of a trust (who has PAYG tax deducted from any payments or receives a superannuation contribution from the trust) is considered to be a worker of the trust.

Any beneficiary who works for an incorporated trust is also considered a worker of the trust.

A working beneficiary who suffers a work related injury is entitled to claim workers’ compensation.

Certain trust distributions are counted as wages. Where a payment to a worker is made in lieu of wages (regardless of the terminology used to describe that payment) then the payment is counted as remuneration for the purposes of calculating workers’ compensation premiums.

Distributions to beneficiaries who are not workers of the trust are not counted as wages. These individuals are not entitled to workers’ compensation in the event of an injury.

Volunteers

Volunteers and unpaid work experience students are not ‘workers’ under the Workers Compensation Act 1987 and you do not need to cover them with your workers compensation insurance policy. You still need to make sure that volunteers and work experience students have a safe working environment. This is known as ‘duty of care’.

The above information has been supplies by the NSW Government WorkCover Website

For more information: www.workcover.nsw.gov.au