Workers Compensation Act 1987

Compensation is payable to a worker in respect of a period of incapacity for work even though the worker has received or is entitled to receive in respect of that period any wages for sick leave under any Act (Commonwealth or State), award or industrial agreement under any such Act or contract of employment.

If a worker is paid compensation by the employer in respect of any period of incapacity for work in respect of which the employer is, or but for this section would be, liable under any Act (Commonwealth or State), award or industrial agreement under any such Act or contract of employment to pay to the worker any wages for sick leave—

that liability shall, to the extent of the compensation so paid, be deemed to have been satisfied by that payment notwithstanding the terms of that Act, award, agreement or contract, and

the amount of that compensation shall, for the purposes of subsections (4) and (5), be deemed to have been paid as compensation and not as wages.

If a worker, in respect of any period of incapacity for work in respect of which the employer is liable to pay compensation to the worker, is paid wages for sick leave by the employer and either an award is made afterwards for the payment of compensation to the worker in respect of that period or the employer agrees afterwards that compensation be paid to the worker in respect of that period—

the employer’s liability to pay compensation in respect of that period shall, to the extent of the wages paid, be deemed to have been satisfied by that payment, and

the wages shall, to the extent of the compensation, be deemed for the purposes of subsections (4) and (5) to have been paid as compensation and not as wages.

If a worker is paid any compensation in respect of a period of incapacity for work, the worker shall, in respect of any entitlement to sick leave, or wages for sick leave, accruing after the expiration of that period—

if the worker has not also been paid wages for sick leave in respect of that period—be deemed not to have been entitled to or granted, or to have received, any sick leave or wages for sick leave in respect of that period, or

if the worker has also been paid wages for sick leave in respect of that period—be deemed not to have been entitled to or granted, or not to have received, sick leave or wages for sick leave in respect of the whole of that period, but only in respect of a lesser period calculated as provided by subsection (5).

The lesser period referred to in subsection (4) is a period which bears to the period of incapacity of the worker the same proportion as the wages paid to the worker in respect of the period of incapacity bear to the total amount of the wages and compensation paid to the worker in respect of the period of incapacity.

In this section—