Protect your business during COVID

Your workers compensation coverage and premiums

If you have workers working from home, it’s important to remember they are still covered under workers compensation legislation. This means workers can claim for work-related injuries or illnesses that occur during the period they are working from home.

If your business has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, we suggest you contact your insurer to discuss your workers compensation policy and premium.

You may be able to have your premium recalculated, for example if you have changed primary business activity, or reduced wage payments.

How will this pandemic affect my workers compensation premium?

Your premiums may be affected if you have:

• modified the type of business or service you offer
• changed any staffing arrangements including the number of staff or the hours they work.

If either of these circumstances occur in your business, ensure you inform your insurer as soon as possible.

If you are experiencing financial difficulties, you can speak to your insurer to find out what help they may be able to offer, such as making alternative payment arrangements.

SIRA continues to work with insurers to consider options to further minimise the impact of the pandemic on employer premiums. This includes factors arising from claims made by workers who contract COVID-19 in the course of their employment.

The NSW Government is providing financial support to ease the pressures on small business as a result of COVID-19. Learn more about support for business at Service NSW.

Keep your workers safe

The health and safety of your workers must be a priority in your planning process for the downscaling, re-opening or upscaling of your business.

Employers must do what they can to ensure the health and safety of workers, customers, the public and volunteers. You must eliminate the risk of exposure to COVID-19 if reasonably practicable. Further assistance about keeping your workers safe can be found at SafeWork NSW.

How do I manage the risk of an employee getting COVID19 in my workplace?

To prepare and manage the risk of COVID-19 in your workplace, please refer to the advice from SafeWork NSW and NSW Health.

If you are not able to eliminate the risk of exposure to COVID-19, you must minimise that the risk, as far as is reasonably practicable.

You can protect workers from the risk of exposure to COVID-19 by:

• continuing to offer working from home arrangements (if possible)
• requiring workers to practice physical distancing
• requiring workers to practise good hygiene (e.g., through workplace policies and ensuring access to adequate and well stocked hygiene facilities)
• requiring workers to stay home when sick, and
• cleaning the workplace regularly and thoroughly.

As your business readjusts to the changing nature of the pandemic, it’s important to discuss and consult on safety decisions with your workers. Joint involvement in identifying hazards and assessing and controlling workplace risks will help build worker commitment to this process and any changes that may result.

The SafeWork NSW consultation toolkit can help you with this.

Can I require my staff to have a COVID19 vaccination?

SafeWork NSW, Safe Work Australia and the NSW State Government have provided advice to employers regarding staff vaccination requirements. This information can be accessed on the respective websites.

Create a mentally healthy workplace

The current COVID-19 pandemic can cause heightened anxiety and stress for workers.

Health obligations under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 extend to both physical and psychological health, so you have a responsibility to support your workers in the uncertain and changing times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is important for employers to provide, so far as reasonably practicable, a mentally healthy work environment for their workers, ensuring that workers stay both physically and mentally healthy during this time.

Refer to the NSW Government website for up to date on information and resources to help with COVID-19.  There is more information available to help you in managing mental health at Work.

What mental health and wellbeing support services are available?

Looking after your mental health is as important as looking after your physical wellbeing.

Here are some free mental health services you can reach out to for support on those harder days.

Review your return to work program

Your return to work program is a key element in how you deliver your culture of recovery at work and how you help workers stay active and return to health.

Whether you are planning to down scale, re-open or are starting to upscale your business, now is the time to review your return to work program. Consult with your workers and ensure that the systems you have in place are sufficient to manage any current or future work-related injuries, in particular COVID-19 related claims.

As part of your review of your return to work program, check that any workers who are returning to work following a COVID-19 diagnosis have a current recover at work plan that adheres to the medical restrictions as defined in their certificate of capacity.  Further information on how to support your workers returning to work is available.

Understand the legislative obligations related to workers with COVID-19 and how it applies to your business

As an employer, you are required to inform your workers compensation insurer of any workplace injury/illness (including COVID-19 infection) within 48 hours of you becoming aware of it.

For the COVID-19 claim to be compensable, work activities must be proven to be the main contributing factor (or substantial contributing factor for exempt workers) to your worker contracting the virus.  Workers in prescribed employment are automatically presumed to have contracted the virus at work (unless the contrary is established).

Amendments to the Workers Compensation Act 1987 in 2020 introduced a presumption that workers in prescribed employment who contract COVID-19, are automatically presumed to have contracted it in the course of their employment   (unless the contrary is established). The Workers Compensation Amendment (Consequential COVID-19 Matters) Regulation 2020 commenced on 24 July 2020.

Learn more about the COVID-19 presumption.

The insurer must commence provisional weekly payments of compensation within 7 days of notification unless they have a reasonable excuse.

If you have not been notified of the insurer’s decision within 7 days, you can contact SIRA for help on 13 10 50 or by email to: [email protected].

Am I required to notify SafeWork NSW of confirmed cases of COVID-19?

SafeWork NSW expects businesses to be diligent in reporting any hospitalisation (where treatment as an in-patient in a hospital is required), and any fatality, where the worker contracted COVID-19, or is likely to have contracted COVID-19, at the workplace.

If your worker has COVID-19, but did not get this at work, you do not need to notify SafeWork NSW.

For advice and information about COVID-19 for businesses, refer to Service NSW.

Manage your cross-border arrangements

With the need for physical distancing, many employers have requested employees work from home. For those close to state border lines, this may mean they are now working outside their ‘State of connection’.

The six States and two mainland Territories of Australia have each enacted ‘State of connection’ legislative provisions. Where a worker undertakes work across more than one State or Territory (i.e. where they are a cross-border worker), the ‘State of connection’ provisions determine the jurisdiction in which an employer is required to obtain workers compensation insurance for that worker.

In NSW, the test for determining workers compensation cover for cross-border workers is set out in section 9AA of the Workers Compensation Act 1987.

Cross border provisions allow a worker to work temporarily for the same employer under the same term or contract of employment, outside their ‘State of connection’ for up to 6 months without the need to reconsider where the worker ‘usually works’.

Simply put, temporary arrangements in place for a period of no longer than 6 months are not relevant to determining where a worker usually works. When a temporary interstate work arrangement of 6 months has passed, the employer must review workers compensation insurance arrangements relating to the worker.

More information is available in the Cross-border arrangements for workers compensation.

Know your obligations if you are closing down your business

Having workers compensation is compulsory for most businesses in NSW. However, you can cancel your policy if your business ceases to trade.

To cancel your workers compensation insurance policy, you will need to provide evidence of having ceased trading to your insurer. You may also need to provide wage information to your insurer so they can determine if there are any premium amounts outstanding, or if you’re entitled to receive a premium refund.

If your policy is cancelled, your business will continue to be covered for claims in relation to any work-related injuries or illnesses that occurred during the time the policy was active. For more information contact your insurer.

Government financial support and workers compensation

SIRA introduced changes to its market practice and premiums guidelines to minimise the impact on employer premiums from payments to workers subsidised by COVID-19 related government programs, such as JobKeeper payments. These changes mean that any wages payments made to workers by government COVID programs are excluded when calculating your wages for premium calculations.

Can I access the stimulus package for my workers?

SIRA has programs to support recovery at work for workers with a work-related injury or illness or for people injured in a motor vehicle accident in NSW.

To access the Commonwealth and NSW State Government stimulus packages you will need to refer to the appropriate agency.

If you are currently using SIRA-funded recover at work programs

If you have had to scale back or close your workplace temporarily due to the impact of COVID-19, the JobCover placement program or the recover at work assist for small business can be put on hold until you are able to resume operations.

This means the duration of both these programs for the worker will be extended by the same period that the employment has been on hold.

You can suggest that your worker contacts the insurer who is managing their claim to advise them of this change.

You should also keep a record of the period you have placed employment on hold to support your future claim for incentive payments. This will support your claim when your business re-opens along with the usual proof of payment of wages to the worker.

How will JobCover6 affect my workers compensation premium calculation?

The amount of wages you pay to your workers is included in the calculation of your workers compensation premium. Under JobCover6, the worker’s wages will be excluded from the amount of wages used to calculate your premium for a period of two years.

Commonwealth or interstate employers will not be eligible for the premium exemption due to the different insurer arrangements between states and territories.

Refer to the SIRA guidance material and contact your insurer for more information.

How do I report JobCover6 or Connect2work for tax purposes?

You should consult your accountant or the Australian Taxation Office about how payment should be treated for taxation purposes.