New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORKPLACE INJURY MANAGEMENT AND WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1998 - SECT 80

80 Required period of notice

(1) An insurer must not discontinue payment to a worker of weekly payments of compensation, or reduce the amount of the compensation, unless the required period of notice (commencing when the notice of discontinuation or reduction is given in accordance with this Division) has expired.

(2) This section applies to a worker only if the worker has received weekly payments for a continuous period of at least 12 weeks.

(3) The
"required period of notice" for a decision made on the basis of any reassessment by the insurer of the entitlement to weekly payments of compensation resulting from a work capacity decision of the insurer is 3 months.

Note : See sections 81- 83 for the effect of an internal review or determination of a dispute by the Commission on the required period of notice.

(4) In any other case, the
"required period of notice" is--

(a) for a worker who has been receiving weekly payments of compensation for a continuous period of less than 1 year--2 weeks, or

(b) for a worker who has been receiving weekly payments of compensation for a continuous period of 1 year or more--6 weeks.

(5) The required period of notice of the discontinuation or reduction is required to be given in accordance with this Subdivision whether or not the notice also includes notice of a liability dispute.

(6) Subsection (1) does not apply to a decision of an insurer to discontinue or reduce the amount of weekly payments of compensation as a result only of the application of different rates of compensation after the expiration of earlier periods of incapacity for which higher rates were payable. However, notice of the decision must be given before the expiration of the period of incapacity that results in the discontinuation or reduction.