Workers Compensation and Injury Management Conciliation Rules 2024

Part 1 — on the day on which these rules are published on the WA legislation website;

the rest of the rules — on 1 July 2024.

a reference to a conciliator is a reference to a conciliator who has been allocated a dispute under section 314 of the Act; and

a reference to a dispute is a reference to a dispute that is the subject of an application for conciliation.

An application for conciliation must be accompanied by any document in the applicant’s possession or under the applicant’s control that will assist the applicant to discharge the onus imposed on them by section 312(3) of the Act.

If the applicant seeks an order for any of the following, the application for conciliation must also be accompanied by a statement setting out the worker’s financial circumstances and reasonable financial needs —

additional income compensation under section 52 of the Act;

an increase in the medical and health expenses general limit amount under section 77 of the Act;

an increase for special expenses in the medical and health expenses general limit amount under section 78 of the Act.

A statement prepared for the purposes of subrule (2) must be accompanied by documentary evidence in support of the statement.

The application for conciliation may be accompanied by any other document that is relevant to the conciliation of the dispute.

In this rule —

The Director must, as soon as practicable after an application for conciliation is lodged, accept or reject the application.

The Director must reject the application for conciliation if —

the dispute has previously been the subject of conciliation and the application was lodged during the exclusion period; or

the Director is not satisfied that the application sufficiently particularises the substantive issues in dispute; or

the Director is not satisfied that reasonable attempts have been made by the applicant to resolve the substantive issues in dispute with each other party to the dispute.

The Director may reject an application for conciliation if the application —

is not complete; or

is not lodged in accordance with Part 6; or

does not comply with these rules.

If the Director does not reject an application for conciliation under subrule (3) or (4), the Director must accept the application.

The Director must notify the applicant —

of the decision to reject or accept the application for conciliation; and

if the application is rejected — of the reason for rejecting the application.

As soon as practicable after accepting an application for conciliation, the Director must give each party to the dispute, other than the applicant —

a copy of the application; and

a copy of any statement or document that accompanied the application.

If a party to the dispute lodges a document with the Director after an application for conciliation has been accepted, the Director must give a copy of that document to each other party to the dispute.

The applicant may discontinue conciliation of a dispute, or of an issue in dispute, at any time before conciliation ends under section 319(1)(a), (b) or (c) of the Act.

Conciliation of the dispute is discontinued when the applicant gives the Director written notice of discontinuance in the Director approved form.

If the Director receives a notice of discontinuance in accordance with subrule (2), the Director must give a copy of the notice to each other party to the dispute.

If an applicant discontinues conciliation of the dispute under subrule (1), the conciliator may make an order as to costs in accordance with Part 6 Division 9 of the Act.

if the party is a body corporate —

a director of the body corporate; or

a secretary of the body corporate; or

any other officer or employee of the body corporate authorised by the body corporate to represent the party;

if the party is a public sector body as defined in the Public Sector Management Act 1994 section 3(1) — a public sector employee authorised by the party to represent the party.

If a party to a dispute appoints a representative for the purpose of conciliating the dispute, the representative must notify the Director of the appointment by lodging —

the first document lodged by the party they represent in the conciliation proceedings; or

a notice of appointment in accordance with Part 6 within 3 working days after being appointed.

If a representative ceases to represent the party, the representative must, within 3 working days of ceasing to be the representative, notify the Director that they have ceased to represent the party.

If the Director is notified under subrule (1) or (2), the Director must notify each other party to the dispute of the appointment or cessation, as the case requires.

If no time limit is fixed under the Act for doing a thing in relation to the conciliation of a dispute, a conciliator may fix the time limit within which the thing must be done.

Any document that a party to a dispute proposes to rely on in the conciliation of the dispute must be lodged within the time limit fixed under the Act or by the conciliator under subrule (1).

A document that is not lodged within the time limit fixed under the Act or by the conciliator under subrule (1) may only be relied on in the conciliation of the dispute at the discretion of the conciliator, having regard to the time when the party lodging the document first obtained the document.