004_ACC_April_2016

1 

ACCIDENT 

COMPENSATION 

Empowering Business 

CORPORATION 

Employer Guide 

1

PLEASE NOTE: All information in this publication is correct as at April 2016 and subject to change. 

This is only a guide. It should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. 

CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 5 

WORK-RELATED PERSONAL INJURY................................................................ 5 

Motor vehicle injuries..................................................................................................... 5 

Work-related.........................................................................................................................................5 

Non work-related...............................................................................................................................5 

Heart attacks and strokes............................................................................................... 6 

Medical treatment of work-related injury.................................................................... 6 

Gradual process, disease, or infection........................................................................... 6 

Injuries occurring between 1 August 2008 and 30 June 2010...........................................6 

Injuries occurring before 1 August 2008, or after 1 July 2010............................................6 

Date on which a work-related gradual process injury suffered.........................................7 

Non work-related...............................................................................................................................7 

Work-related mental injury............................................................................................ 7 

Date on which work-related mental injury suffered............................................................. 8 

MONETARY ENTITLEMENTS............................................................................. 8 

Claimant’s responsibilities............................................................................................. 8 

First week compensation................................................................................................ 8 

Entitlement to weekly compensation........................................................................... 9 

Entitlement where claimant no longer employee...................................................... 10 

Calculation of weekly earnings.................................................................................... 10 

Shareholder employees.................................................................................................11 

Treatment costs..............................................................................................................11 

Lump sum compensation............................................................................................. 12 

Holiday entitlements.................................................................................................... 13 

Public (statutory) holidays............................................................................................................ 13 

Sick Leave........................................................................................................................................... 13 

Annual holidays................................................................................................................................ 13 

REHABILITATION.............................................................................................. 13 

Employer’s obligation................................................................................................... 13 

Individual rehabilitation plan...................................................................................... 13 

Social rehabilitation...................................................................................................... 14 

Vocational rehabilitation.............................................................................................. 15 

Matters considered in providing vocational rehabilitation...................................... 15 

Initial occupational assessment................................................................................... 16 

Medical assessor............................................................................................................ 16 

Changing circumstances................................................................................................17 

2

VOCATIONAL INDEPENDENCE....................................................................... 17 

Assessment.....................................................................................................................17 

If vocational independence is established..............................................................................17 

If vocational independence is lost............................................................................................. 18 

DISENTITLEMENTS.......................................................................................... 18 

Wilfully inflicted injuries............................................................................................... 18 

CLAIMS PROCESS............................................................................................. 18 

DISPUTE RESOLUTION.................................................................................... 19 

How to apply for a review............................................................................................. 19 

Once a review application is received......................................................................... 20 

Costs on review.............................................................................................................. 22 

APPEALS............................................................................................................ 22 

Bringing an appeal........................................................................................................ 22 

Further appeals............................................................................................................. 23 

LEVIES............................................................................................................... 23 

Experience rating.......................................................................................................... 24 

No-Claims Discount Programme............................................................................................... 24 

Experience Rating Programme................................................................................................... 24 

Classification for levy purposes................................................................................... 25 

Risk adjustment of employer levies............................................................................. 25 

Criteria for upward adjustment of levies.................................................................... 25 

Workplace safety management practices (WSMP)..................................................... 26 

ACC Workplace Safety Discount Programme.............................................................. 26 

WORK ACCOUNT.............................................................................................. 27 

Promotion of employer involvement.......................................................................... 27 

ACCREDITED EMPLOYERS............................................................................... 27 

Reporting and information.......................................................................................... 28 

COVER FOR NON-WORK RELATED PERSONAL INJURY................................29 

Earners’ account............................................................................................................ 29 

Non-earners’ account................................................................................................... 29 

Motor vehicle account.................................................................................................. 29 

Treatment injury account............................................................................................. 29 

3

CODE OF ACC CLAIMANT’S RIGHTS...............................................................29 

TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT...................................................................30 

DEFINITIONS....................................................................................................30 

Accident.......................................................................................................................... 30 

Employee....................................................................................................................... 30 

Employer.........................................................................................................................31 

Incapacity........................................................................................................................31 

Personal injury...............................................................................................................31 

Place of employment.................................................................................................... 32 

ACC AS A NO FAULT SYSTEM.......................................................................... 32 

APPENDIX......................................................................................................... 33 

Occupational diseases.................................................................................................. 33 

4

BACK 

INTRODUCTION 

New Zealand has had a system of 24-hour no-fault cover for accidents since the first 

Accident Compensation Act came into force in April 1974. A number of statutes have 

followed this initial legislation, all focusing on the word ‘accident’. The new Act changes 

that focus while retaining the original administering body, the Accident Compensation 

Corporation (‘the Corporation’). Under the Accident Compensation Act 2001 much more 

than in the past the emphasis is on preventing injury and, if an accident injury does occur, 

on rehabilitating the injured person. With injured employees, the aim, if at all possible, is 

to get them back to work as soon as practicable. 

WORK-RELATED 

PERSONAL INJURY 

A work-related personal injury is one that occurs to 

an employee while: 

• he or she is at any place for the purposes 

of his or her employment, including, for 

example, a place that itself moves or a place 

to or through which the claimant moves; or 

• while he or she is having a break from 

work for a meal or rest or refreshment 

at his or her place of employment. 

If an employee is off work because of the injury, 

the employer in whose employment the injury 

occurred must, for the first week of incapacity, pay 

80 per cent of all lost earnings as earnings-related 

compensation. This includes 80 per cent of earnings 

lost from any other job the employee might hold. 

Later entitlements are funded by an employer levy 

payable into a Work Account. It is irrelevant to the 

decision whether the person suffered a work-related 

personal injury that, when the event causing the 

injury occurred, he or she: 

• may have been acting in contravention of 

any Act or regulations applicable to the 

employment, or in contravention of any 

instructions, or in the absence of instructions; or 

• may have been working under 

an illegal contract; or 

• may have been indulging in, or may 

have been the victim of, misconduct, 

skylarking, or negligence; or 

• may have been the victim of a force of nature. 

Motor vehicle injuries 

WORK-RELATED 

Work-related personal injuries involving the use of a 

motor vehicle are those that occur: 

• at the start or finish of the day’s work 

when employees are being driven by 

their employer, or by another employee, 

in employer-provided transport; 

• to an employee who is travelling by the most 

direct practicable route between the workplace 

and some other place to obtain treatment 

needed for a work-related personal injury. The 

subsequent injury will not be classified as workrelated 

if the route taken interrupts, or deviates 

unreasonably from the journey for purposes 

unrelated to the employment or treatment. 

NON WORK-RELATED 

Motor vehicle injuries not classified as work-related 

(but which nevertheless carry an entitlement to 

first-week earnings-related compensation from the 

employer) occur in circumstances where: 

• the employee’s ‘place of work’ is a place that 

itself moves or through which the claimant 

moves. An example of an injury in a ‘place 

that itself moves’ would be injury to a bus or 

taxi driver. A supermarket employee run over 

while collecting trolleys from the supermarket 

car park would be an example of an injury in 

a place through which the claimant moves; 

• an employee is at work but is having a 

break from work for rest or refreshment. 

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BACK 

Except for first week compensation, these kinds 

of motor vehicle accident injuries will be funded 

from the Motor Vehicle Account, not from the Work 

Account (see under ‘Motor Vehicle Account’ heading). 

Heart attacks and strokes 

Cardio-vascular or cerebro-vascular episodes (heart 

attacks or strokes) are work-related if caused by 

physical effort or physical strain experienced by the 

employee in the course of employment. The physical 

effort or strain will be excessive or abnormal for the 

particular employee, even though another employee 

would not have found it too great. 

Medical treatment of 

work-related injury 

Treatment for a work-related injury where the 

treatment results in an injured employee suffering 

further injury, (the injury is a treatment injury as 

per section 32), will also be treated as a work injury. 

This not only applies to hospital treatment but to 

treatment given by any registered health professional 

such as an occupational health nurse acting in the 

workplace on the employer’s behalf. 

Gradual process, disease, 

or infection 

Gradual process, disease, or infection resulting in 

injury will be work-related if the employment involves 

or used to involve exposure to certain agents, dust, 

compounds, substances or radiation, and the disease 

contracted is one of the occupational diseases listed in 

Schedule 2 of the Act (set out in the appendix to these 

guidelines). It will also be work related if the employee 

is employed in an occupation, industry, or process 

described in Schedule 2. An employee who contracts 

such a disease while working (or having worked) in an 

industry or occupation where listed substances are 

used, or where the disease is known to occur, does 

not have to establish that it was caused by the work 

performed (see below). The fact that the employee 

worked in such circumstances is sufficient to put the 

disease into the ‘work-related’ category. Under section 

30(4A) cover will only exist if the exposure occurred in 

New Zealand or the person was ordinarily resident in 

New Zealand when the exposure occurred. 

Other gradual process injuries and infections need 

to meet certain criteria to be considered work related. 

There are two different tests, depending on when the 

injury occurred. 

INJURIES OCCURRING BETWEEN 1 AUGUST 

2008 AND 30 JUNE 2010 

The employment task must have (or have had) a 

particular property or characteristic causing, or 

contributing to the cause of the personal injury. For 

the period between 1 August 2008 and 30 June 2010, 

the claimant must establish that it is more likely the 

personal injury was caused by the employment tasks 

or environment, than by their non-employment 

activities or environment. 

However, despite that threshold being reached, 

the Corporation has the discretion to decline the 

claim if the Corporation establishes the risk of 

suffering the personal injury is not significantly 

greater for persons who: 

• perform that employment task than 

for persons who do not, or 

• are employed in that type of environment 

than for persons who are not 

INJURIES OCCURRING BEFORE 1 AUGUST 

2008, OR AFTER 1 JULY 2010 

For gradual process injuries which occurred before 

1 August 2008, or after 1 July 2010, a more stringent 

test must be satisfied for the injury to be considered 

work related. There is the same requirement that the 

employment task must have (or have had) a particular 

property or characteristic causing, or contributing to 

the cause of, the personal injury. However this must 

be a property or characteristic not found to any great 

extent in employee’s non-employment activities 

or environment. For the gradual process injury to 

be considered work related it must be shown that 

the risk of suffering the gradual process injury is 

significantly greater for persons who: 

• perform that employment task than 

for persons who do not, or 

• are employed in that type of environment 

than for persons who are not. 

Injuries that can be attributed to workplace airconditioning 

systems and passive smoking are 

classified as work-related gradual process injuries. 

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BACK 

An employee who deliberately misinforms the 

employer about previous occupational deafness 

still retains coverage if hearing is further damaged. 

DATE ON WHICH A WORK-RELATED 

GRADUAL PROCESS INJURY SUFFERED 

The date when a work-related personal injury is 

suffered will be the earlier of the date when: 

• treatment is first received from either 

a registered medical practitioner 

or nurse practitioner; or 

• the injury first results in incapacity. 

For gradual process injuries suffered before 1 April 

1974, the injured person will be regarded as having 

suffered the injury on a date later than 1 July 1992, 

determined as above. 

NON WORK-RELATED 

Personal injury caused by a work-related gradual 

process, disease, or infection does not include: 

• personal injury related to non-physical stress. 

(A mental (non-physical) injury resulting from 

one of the criminal acts (mostly of a sexual 

nature) listed in Schedule 3 of the Act is covered 

and, if the criminal act occurred at work, could 

be classified as work-related. However in 

such a case, the person suffering the mental 

injury can choose, for privacy reasons, to have 

the injury regarded as a non-work injury.) 

• any degree of deafness for which 

compensation has been paid under the 

Workers’ Compensation Act 1956; 

• an injury occurring to someone who, before 

1 April 1974, worked outside New Zealand 

at a job or in an environment conducive 

to the development of a gradual process 

injury and was not ordinarily resident in 

New Zealand at the time (even if ordinarily 

resident when the injury was ‘suffered’); 

• an injury occurring to someone who, before 1 

April 1974, worked at a task or in an environment 

conducive to the development of a gradual 

process injury, but who died before 1 July 1992. 

The Minister responsible for the Act’s administration 

may appoint an expert advisory panel on gradual 

process, disease, or infection to give advice on 

whether the Act’s occupational disease schedule 

should be amended, on how gradual process 

claims should be dealt with, and on the definition 

of gradual process injury. 

Work-related mental injury 

A person will have cover for a personal injury that is 

a work-related mental injury suffered on or after 1 

October 2008 if they meet certain criteria. 

To obtain cover the person must have actually 

suffered a mental injury. Mental injury is defined 

in the Act as a clinically significant behavioural, 

cognitive or psychological dysfunction. The mental 

injury must also be caused by a single event in the 

following circumstances: 

• The person experiences, sees, or 

hears that event directly; and 

• They must experience the event in 

circumstances which deem an accident to 

be work-related (See under ‘Work-related 

personal injuries’. These are injuries incurred 

while working in a place that itself moves 

or through which the employee moves, or 

while having a break from work for rest or 

refreshment at the place of employment); and 

• The event could reasonably be expected to 

cause mental injury to people generally; and 

• The event must have occurred in New 

Zealand, or outside New Zealand to a 

person who is ordinarily resident in New 

Zealand at the time the event occurred. 

For the person to have experienced, seen, or heard 

the event directly the person must have been 

involved in or witnessed the event and have been 

in close physical proximity to the event. A person 

will not be considered to have experienced, seen or 

heard an event directly if they absorbed it through 

a secondary source, such as through television, the 

media, radio or the telephone. 

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BACK 

To meet the circumstances for obtaining cover 

an ‘event’ is described as: 

• An event that is sudden; or 

• A direct outcome of a sudden event; or 

• A series of events that arise from the 

same cause or circumstance and together 

comprise a single incident or occasion 

A gradual process is excluded from being 

considered an ‘event’. 

DATE ON WHICH WORK-RELATED MENTAL 

INJURY SUFFERED 

The date on which the work-related mental 

injury will be considered to have been suffered 

will be the date on which the person first receives 

treatment for that injury. 

MONETARY ENTITLEMENTS 

Monetary entitlements provided under the Act are: 

• employer-paid first week compensation; 

• weekly compensation after the first week; 

• lump sum compensation for 

permanent impairment; 

• funeral grants, survivors’ grants, weekly 

compensation for the surviving spouse, 

children and other dependants, and 

child care payments, where a claimant 

dies as the result of a personal injury. 

Injured employees are also entitled to rehabilitation, 

comprising treatment and, where necessary, social 

and vocational rehabilitation. Entitlements for workrelated 

personal injuries are funded by a levy on 

employers which is paid into a Work Account. 

Claimant’s responsibilities 

A claimant who has received any entitlement, if 

reasonably asked to do so by the Corporation, must: 

• provide a certificate from a registered health 

professional or treatment provider; 

• provide any other information required; 

• authorise the Corporation to obtain medical 

and other information relevant to the claim; 

• be assessed, at the Corporation’s expense, 

by a registered health professional 

specified by the Corporation; 

• undergo assessment at the 

Corporation’s expense; 

• co-operate with the Corporation in the 

development and implementation of an 

individual rehabilitation plan, where necessary; 

• have present and likely capabilities 

assessed for rehabilitation purposes, 

at the Corporation’s expense; 

• participate in rehabilitation; 

• provide a written statement about any 

matters relating to any entitlement. 

(The Corporation may ask for this in the 

form of a statutory declaration.) 

First week compensation 

Anyone who was employed immediately before being 

incapacitated as the result of a work-related personal 

injury is entitled to 80 per cent of all earnings lost 

during the first week of incapacity. This first week 

payment will be paid by the employer at whose 

workplace the injury occurred. The Corporation 

pays any subsequent weekly earnings-related 

compensation except where an employer has chosen 

to become an ‘accredited employer’. Again payment 

is at the rate of 80 per cent of previous earnings (see 

under ‘Calculation of weekly earnings’ for the way in 

which these are calculated) but to a set maximum. 

The employer is liable to pay all the first week 

compensation for a work-related personal injury, 

including one suffered in a motor vehicle accident 

which, though not classified as work-related, 

carries an entitlement to employer-paid first week 

compensation. (See under ‘Work-related personal 

injuries’. These are injuries incurred while working in a 

place that itself moves or though which the employee 

moves, or while having a break from work for rest or 

refreshment at the place of employment). In all other 

respects such injuries will come into the motor vehicle 

category and be paid for from the Motor Vehicle 

Account. To challenge a decision by ACC that an 

injury is work-related, an employer should follow the 

disputes resolution process outlined later in this guide. 

8

BACK 

The employer at whose workplace the injury 

occurred also pays 80 per cent of any earnings 

the employee has lost from any other job, if the 

employee has more than one job. 

In calculating first week compensation it is presumed 

that the amount lost because of incapacity is the 

difference between earnings in the 7 days before the 

incapacity commenced and earnings in the first week 

of incapacity. For example, if an employee earned 

$500 in the 7 days prior to incapacity and $100 in the 

week of incapacity, the amount lost, and therefore 

payable by the employer, is 80 per cent of $400. 

However, this presumption can be rebutted by proof 

to the contrary, as in the case of a shift worker injured 

on the first day of a new shift after several days when 

not required to work. Earnings in the previous seven 

days will be less than the employee would normally 

receive, making the presumption inappropriate. 

Evidence of the employee’s situation will rebut 

the presumption so that first week compensation 

can then be calculated as 80 per cent of shift work 

earnings. Similarly, a part-time employee may not 

have worked and earned as much as usual in the 7 

days prior to incapacity. Here, too, evidence of the 

employee’s usual pattern of earnings can be used to 

rebut the presumption. 

Before paying first week compensation the 

employer may reasonably require the employee 

to produce independent evidence of the personal 

injury, for example, by providing a certificate from 

a registered health professional whom the employer 

nominates and pays for. 

The term registered health professional covers: 

chiropractors, clinical dental technicians, medical 

laboratory technologists, medical radiation 

technologists, midwives, nurses, occupational 

therapists, optometrists, pharmacists, 

physiotherapists, podiatrists, and registered 

medical practitioners all of whom can provide 

initial certificates of injury. However, for some later 

purposes, for example, when the Corporation is 

determining whether someone is incapacitated 

for work (see below), the employee will need to get 

a certificate from a registered medical practitioner 

or nurse practitioner. 

First week compensation is payable for the purposes 

of the Act itself, the Income Tax Act, the Tax 

Administration Act, the laws relating to insolvency, 

receivership and the liquidation of companies, and 

section 131 of the Employment Relations Act (relating 

to wage arrears). 

It is an offence for an employer not to pay first week 

compensation. The maximum fine is $500. 

Entitlement to weekly compensation 

Weekly compensation is payable to any eligible 

person who was an earner when the personal injury 

was suffered or who was on unpaid parental leave. 

To determine eligibility the Corporation must decide 

whether the injured employee cannot, because of 

the injury, continue to do the work he or she was 

doing when the injury occurred. An employee who 

cannot continue is considered ‘incapacitated’ for 

employment. This also applies to self-employed 

people and to anyone who has applied to purchase 

weekly compensation while still employed, or within 

one month of ceasing employment, to cover a period 

when not employed—as anyone continuously 

employed for the previous 12 months is entitled to do. 

In determining incapacity, the Corporation must 

consider a registered medical practitioners or 

nurse practitioner’s assessment. It may also obtain 

professional, technical, specialised, or other advice 

from some other appropriate person. 

The Corporation may from time to time reconsider 

the situation of an employee who is receiving weekly 

compensation. If it decides the employee is no longer 

incapacitated, entitlement to weekly compensation 

will be lost three months after the Corporation has 

notified the employee of its decision. 

9

BACK 

Entitlement where claimant no 

longer employee 

If a claimant was no longer employed before the 

incapacity commenced, they will be deemed to be 

an employee, for a short time, for the purposes of 

entitlement to weekly compensation. That period is 

the longer of: 

• 28 days from the date of ceasing to be an 

employee, if employed within 28 days before the 

incapacity commenced and would have been 

employed within three months of the incapacity 

commencing, but for the incapacity; or 

• the period for which the earner levy is payable 

on earnings to which there is entitlement 

when employment ceases (i.e. outstanding 

holiday pay). Here the ‘employee’ is deemed 

to be deriving earnings at the same rate as 

immediately before employment ceased. 

• In the case of seasonal employment, appropriate 

entitlements will be available if the claimant: 

• would have been an employee within 12 

months of the incapacity commencing; and 

• was employed by the same employer in 

the two seasons prior to incapacity; and 

• The employer confirms that the claimant 

could reasonably have expected to be 

re-employed in the season after the 

claimant’s incapacity commenced. 

In the above situations, the start of incapacity for 

weekly earnings calculation purposes is deemed to 

be the last date of employment, although entitlement 

will run from the date of injury. 

The employer has no obligation to pay first week 

compensation but the Corporation will subsequently 

pay weekly earnings compensation, if required. 

Payments will come from the Earners’ Account, 

Motor Vehicle Account, or Treatment injury Account, 

depending on circumstances. 

For an employee on parental leave any personal 

injury incapacity is deemed, for calculation purposes, 

to date from the day on which the leave began. 

This means that a claimant is entitled to weekly 

compensation for loss of earnings equivalent to 

what was earned immediately before going on leave. 

However, the commencement date for entitlement 

to payment is the date on which the claimant would 

otherwise have been required to return to work when 

the leave period ends. In other words, no earningsrelated 

payment is available for the leave period itself. 

Unless the personal injury is a motor vehicle injury, 

treatment injury, or work-related personal injury (such 

as a gradual process injury), payments will come from 

the Earners’ Account. 

Calculation of weekly earnings 

Calculation of weekly earnings for a permanent 

employee immediately before the commencement 

of incapacity: 

The Corporation will regard an employee as having 

been in permanent employment if, in its opinion, the 

employee would have continued to receive earnings 

from the employment for more than 12 months after 

the incapacity commenced but for suffering the 

personal injury. This is the case with every job if an 

employee has more than one employer. 

For the first four weeks after the first week of 

incapacity (the first week being paid by the 

employer): weekly earnings are calculated by 

dividing earnings in the four weeks immediately 

preceding incapacity by the number of full or part 

weeks during which they were earned. 

After four weeks: weekly earnings are calculated 

by dividing earnings in the 52 weeks immediately 

preceding incapacity by the number of full or part 

weeks during which they were earned. 

In calculating weekly earnings, any period 

during which the claimant was entitled to weekly 

compensation, and any earnings in respect of any 

such period, must not be counted. 

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BACK 

If an employee was in permanent, full-time 

employment immediately prior to incapacity, but 

was previously employed by the same employer 

for less than 30 hours a week: weekly earnings will 

be the greater of: 

• earnings calculated as above; or 

• weekly earnings calculated as if the employee 

was not in permanent employment immediately 

before his or her incapacity commenced. The 

first four weeks prior to incapacity are divided 

by the number of full or part weeks during 

which the earnings were earned to determine 

earnings for the 4-week period. Then for any 

subsequent period, all earnings in the 52 

weeks prior to incapacity are divided by 52 

or by any smaller number that might apply. 

A smaller number will apply if at any time 

during the 52 weeks the employee received 

weekly compensation and/or had more than 

one week’s continuous period of unpaid sick 

leave (such weeks must not be counted in 

working out the payment entitlement). 

Someone previously employed who suffers an 

incapacity but who would not have been expected 

to work continuously for a further 12-month period 

if the incapacity had not happened, is considered not 

to have been in permanent employment immediately 

before incapacity commenced. Earnings in such 

cases are calculated as set out under the second 

bullet point above. This would apply to employees 

in fixed term employment. 

For certain low-income earners in full-time 

employment prior to incapacity special provision 

is made in Schedule 1 of the Act for an increase in 

weekly earnings. The increase (if an amount has 

not been set in regulations made under the Act) is 

to the greater of: 

• the relevant minimum wage under 

the Minimum Wage Act; or 

• 125 percent of the relevant rate of invalids 

benefit under the Social Security Act, if the 

employee remains incapacitated five weeks 

from the commencement of incapacity. 

Shareholder employees 

Shareholder employees may purchase weekly 

compensation and if they do, their employer is not 

required to pay the Work Account levy in respect 

of their earnings. However, this does not affect the 

employer’s obligation to pay the portion of the Work 

Account levy that is payable in respect of the earnings 

of that employee. The Act sets out the way in which 

weekly compensation is to be calculated where this is 

payable to a shareholder employee. 

Treatment costs 

The Corporation must pay the cost of treatment 

necessary to restore an injured employee’s health 

to the maximum extent practicable, but must first 

agree what treatment will be provided. Without 

prior agreement, the Corporation is not liable to pay 

treatment costs, except in the case of an emergency 

where acute treatment is required. 

Treatment must be necessary and appropriate and 

of the required quality. It must be carried out at an 

appropriate time and place by a qualified person who 

normally does provide that kind of treatment, but not 

for any longer time than is necessary to restore health. 

In deciding whether or not to pay for treatment, the 

Corporation must take into account the nature and 

severity of the injury and what, in New Zealand, is 

the generally accepted treatment for an injury of 

that kind. It must also consider any other available 

options, together with the cost of the usual means 

of treatment and that of other options compared 

with the likely benefit to the injured employee. The 

Corporation must pay for any ancillary service that 

will assist an employee to obtain treatment. The term 

‘ancillary service’ covers things like accommodation, 

transport, transport escort for treatment, prescribed 

pharmaceuticals, and laboratory tests. 

The Corporation may ask injured employees to 

supply information about their injury and about the 

treatment they want, and unless the information is 

provided, may refuse to pay the costs of treatment. 

It must not, however, refuse to pay because the 

injured employee declines to pay any part of the 

treatment provider’s fee that the Corporation is 

liable to pay, or because the injured employee has 

11

BACK 

not agreed to go to a particular treatment provider. 

However, if a treatment provider charges more than 

the Corporation is liable to pay, the Corporation is not 

required to meet the extra charge. The Corporation 

can refuse to pay if the employee does not agree 

to go to a particular treatment provider and the 

treatment is an assessment required under the Act 

or is a second opinion. 

From 16 November 2009 the free physiotherapy 

services through the Endorsed Provider Network 

is longer be available. ACC pays approximately 

one third less to physiotherapists for consultations 

with ACC clients. Under this client co-charging 

scheme, ACC reduces the amount which they pay 

for treating accident victims. Physiotherapists are 

able to charge ACC clients a co-payment towards 

their consultation fees. 

In helping an injured employee to choose a treatment 

provider, the Corporation can advise that treatment 

from a named provider will mean contributing less, or 

paying nothing more, towards the cost of treatment. 

If acute treatment has to be given somewhere other 

than in a public hospital, an injured employee (or any 

claimant) does not have to pay for treatment to which 

he or she is entitled. 

Where an appropriately qualified treatment 

provider decides that treatment requires an acute 

admission this must be to a public hospital unless 

the Corporation agrees to a private hospital or other 

non-publicly funded institution. Prior agreement is 

not required if, for clinical safety reasons, treatment 

by a publicly funded provider is not practicable. 

Lump sum compensation 

Lump sum compensation payments relate only to 

injuries suffered after 1 April 2002 and are not payable 

for an injury suffered before that date, or for the 

subsequent consequences of such an injury. Lump 

sum compensation will be payable if the claimant has 

cover under the Act, has survived the injury for not 

less than 28 days, and is alive when an assessment for 

eligibility purposes is carried out. Eligibility depends 

on an assessment establishing a degree of wholeperson 

impairment of 10 per cent or more. Payments 

under the Act range from $2,500 for 10 per cent 

impairment to $100,000 for impairment of 80 per cent 

or more. However these rates are subject to change 

as they are indexed to the Consumer Price Index. The 

sums are reviewed by ACC each year to take inflation 

into account. Annual changes to lump sum payments 

take effect from 1 July each year. Current lump sum 

figures can be obtained by contacting ACC. 

In relation to work-related gradual process injuries, 

there is no entitlement to a lump sum payment if 

one of the following dates preceded 1 April 2002. 

The date on which: 

• the person last performed the particular task or 

was employed in the particular environment; 

• treatment was first received for that 

particular personal injury. 

Someone who suffers a mental injury caused by an 

act to which the Crimes Act applies is not entitled 

to lump sum compensation if the act last occurred 

before 1 April 2002. 

An acute admission means an admission within 

seven days of an appropriately qualified provider 

deciding to admit. 

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BACK 

Holiday entitlements 

PUBLIC (STATUTORY) HOLIDAYS 

If a public holiday falls in the first week following a 

work-related accident the employer must pay for 

the holiday at the appropriate rate (80 per cent of 

earnings for the 7 days’ prior to incapacity). In the 

first week of a non-work related injury an employee 

will be entitled to payment for a public holiday if 

it falls on a day that would otherwise have been 

a working day for the employee. After the first 

week, payment for public holidays becomes the 

Corporation’s responsibility. 

SICK LEAVE 

An employee may use sick leave in the first week of 

incapacity for a non-work related injury. An employer 

cannot require an employee to take sick leave during 

the first week of employer paid compensation for a 

work-related injury or while on weekly compensation 

with ACC. However, if an employer pays the difference 

between the employee’s first week compensation or 

weekly compensation from ACC and their ordinary 

weekly pay, the employer may agree with the 

employee that he or she may deduct from the 

employee’s current sick leave entitlement, one day 

for every five whole days that the employer makes 

that payment. 

ANNUAL HOLIDAYS 

Continuous employment under the Holidays 

Act 2003 for the purposes of ascertaining an 

employee’s entitlement to annual leave, includes 

a period during which an employee is receiving 

weekly compensation from ACC. Unless and until 

employment is terminated, injured workers remain 

employees and their entitlement to annual leave is 

not affected by their absence. 

An employee will continue to accrue annual leave 

while they are away on ACC. They will acquire the 

full 4 weeks’ entitlement when their anniversary 

date arises, whether or not they are on ACC leave 

at the time of the anniversary. See the A-Z Guide to 

Annual Holidays for further information. 

REHABILITATION 

Anyone (including an injured employee) suffering 

a personal injury for which he or she has cover is 

entitled to rehabilitation provided by the Corporation 

to assist in restoring health, independence, and 

participation, to the maximum extent practicable. At 

the same time, individuals, to the extent practicable 

having regard to the consequences of their particular 

injury, are responsible for their own rehabilitation. 

Employer’s obligation 

If the Corporation decides it is reasonably practicable 

to return an injured employee to the same job he 

or she had prior to incapacity, and with the same 

employer, it must give the employer written notice 

of its decision. The employer must then take all 

practicable steps to assist the injured employee 

with vocational rehabilitation under his or her 

individual rehabilitation plan. 

When determining what is meant by all ‘practicable 

steps’ (although, ultimately, this will be a matter for 

the courts to decide) employers will need to consider 

the following factors: 

• the nature and consequence of the injury; 

• the achievement of rehabilitation outcomes; 

•cost; 

•cost effectiveness; 

• the availability of other forms 

of rehabilitation; and 

• any other relevant factors. 

Individual rehabilitation plan 

Within 13 weeks of accepting an injured employee’s 

claim for cover, the Corporation must determine 

whether a social or vocational rehabilitation plan 

will be necessary after the 13 weeks are up. If so, the 

Corporation must prepare an individual rehabilitation 

plan in consultation with the injured employee (or any 

other claimant). 

13

BACK 

The Corporation must provide an injured employee 

with information about: 

• rehabilitation to which there may be entitlement; 

• the plan development process; and 

• the employee’s right to have a representative 

involved in preparing the plan; and 

• the Corporation’s right to require an 

assessment of vocational independence 

when vocational rehabilitation is completed, 

and the potential consequences of such 

an assessment (that is, where the plan 

includes vocational rehabilitation); and 

• the potential consequences of agreeing 

to the rehabilitation plan. 

In preparing an individual rehabilitation plan the 

Corporation must assess the need for rehabilitation 

to assist in restoring independence, maintaining or 

obtaining employment, or regaining or acquiring 

vocational independence. The plan itself must: 

• identify rehabilitation needs; 

• identify the assessments to be done; 

• identify the service or services appropriate 

to needs, and whether the Corporation is 

liable to provide any or all of these; and 

• specify which services the Corporation 

will provide, pay for, or contribute to. 

The Corporation must assess whether there is a 

need for social and vocational rehabilitation, but 

does not have to assess a need solely related to 

maintaining employment. 

Even though an injured employee does not agree 

to a plan, the Corporation can advise that the plan 

has been finalised and is to be regarded as if the 

employee had agreed to it. When finalised, the 

Corporation must implement the plan, although the 

injured employee can seek a review of its decision. 

The Corporation and the employee may also agree 

to modify the plan. 

To the extent that they are willing and able to 

do so, the following persons must be given the 

opportunity to participate in the preparation and 

costing of a plan (although costs of preparation 

are met by the Corporation): 

• the injured employee; 

• any registered medical practitioner 

who is providing treatment; 

• any employer or potential employer. 

The Corporation must provide rehabilitation 

in accordance with any agreed individual 

rehabilitation plan, but only to the extent that 

it has specified which services it will provide. 

Individual rehabilitation plans must be updated 

from time to time to reflect the outcome of an 

employee’s progress, based on assessments that 

have been carried out. 

Social and vocational rehabilitation (see below) may 

be provided before any assessment of entitlement 

has been undertaken or completed, or before the 

Corporation starts or concludes its consideration 

of the matters it must otherwise take into account 

in considering whether to provide vocational 

rehabilitation. In other words, social and vocational 

rehabilitation may be begun before the Corporation 

has complied with official requirements. 

Social rehabilitation 

Before an individual rehabilitation plan is agreed on, 

the Corporation must provide any social rehabilitation 

considered suitable and necessary to help restore 

independence to the maximum extent practicable. 

Social rehabilitation covers matters such as aids and 

appliances, attendant care, child care, home help and 

modifications to the home, training and transport for 

independence and so on. The Corporation must also 

provide any necessary vocational rehabilitation. 

14

BACK 

Vocational rehabilitation 

The purpose of vocational rehabilitation is 

to help an incapacitated employee maintain 

employment, obtain employment, or regain 

or acquire vocational independence. The 

employment must be suitable for the particular 

employee and appropriate to the employee’s levels 

of training and experience (an injured pianist cannot 

be expected to work in a factory). 

The Corporation must provide vocational 

rehabilitation to an employee who has suffered 

a workplace injury and is entitled to weekly 

compensation, or who, without vocational 

rehabilitation, is likely to be entitled to weekly 

compensation, or who is on parental leave. 

Vocational rehabilitation must be provided for the 

minimum period to achieve its purpose, generally this 

cannot be for longer than three years (not necessarily 

consecutive). However the Corporation does have the 

discretion to extend the vocational rehabilitation for 

longer than three years if they consider that: 

• the vocational rehabilitation would be likely 

to achieve its purpose under the claimants 

individual rehabilitation plan; and 

• the rehabilitation would be cost-effective when 

balanced against the cost of entitlements 

under the Act which may be reduced by the 

provision of the vocational rehabilitation; and 

• the vocational rehabilitation would be 

appropriate in the circumstances. 

An assessment of an injured employee’s vocational 

rehabilitation needs must consist of: 

• an initial occupational assessment to 

identify appropriate types of work; and 

• an initial medical assessment to determine 

whether the types of work identified are, 

or are likely to be, suitable for the injured 

employee from a medical point of view. 

Assessors who carry out assessments must be 

people the Corporation considers have the necessary 

qualifications and experience to do so. 

Matters considered in providing 

vocational rehabilitation 

In deciding whether vocational rehabilitation is 

appropriate to achieve its purpose, the Corporation 

must consider whether it is reasonably practicable to: 

• return the injured employee to his 

or her previous employment with 

the same employer; or (if not) 

• return the employee to employment of a 

different kind with the same employer; or 

• return the employee to the same kind of 

employment with a different employer; or 

• return the employee to different 

employment with a different employer 

where the employee can use his or her 

experience, education or training; or 

• help the employee use as many pre-injury 

skills as possible to obtain employment. 

In deciding whether to provide vocational 

rehabilitation the Corporation must consider 

whether rehabilitation is likely to: 

• achieve its purpose under the injured 

employee’s rehabilitation plan; 

• be cost effective (in the sense of reducing 

the costs of entitlements under the Act); 

• be appropriate in the circumstances; and 

An injured employee must be told that once 

vocational rehabilitation has been completed he or 

she may be assessed for vocational independence. 

The Corporation may engage someone suitably 

qualified to assist in the assessment, preparation, 

and costing of a vocational rehabilitation plan 

and to provide a link between the employee and 

the services the plan identifies. It must give the 

following persons the opportunity to participate 

in the preparation and costing process: 

• the injured employee; 

• any registered medical practitioner 

who is providing treatment; 

• the employee’s employer, or any potential 

employer, to the extent that he or she 

is willing and able to participate. 

15

BACK 

The Corporation meets the cost of preparation of 

such a plan, including the costs of any assessment 

approved as necessary so that the plan can be 

prepared. 

As with the rehabilitation plan, the Corporation must 

ask an injured employee to agree to a vocational 

rehabilitation plan, and if, after a reasonable time the 

employee has not agreed, can advise that the plan 

has been finalised and that the employee is regarded 

as having agreed. However, the injured employee can 

apply to have the plan reviewed (see under ‘Review’). 

Initial occupational assessment 

Initial occupational assessment (to assess vocational 

rehabilitation needs): 

An occupational assessor carrying out an initial 

assessment must: 

• take into account information provided by 

the injured employee and the Corporation 

(which must provide all the information it has 

relevant to an occupational assessment); 

• discuss with the injured employee all suitable 

types of work available in New Zealand; 

• consider any comments made by the injured 

employee about those types of work. 

The assessor must then prepare a report for the 

Corporation identifying appropriate types of work 

and taking into account information provided by the 

injured employee as well as any discussions held with 

the injured employee. A copy of the report goes to 

the employee and the medical assessor but not to the 

employer. Employers should therefore ensure every 

employment agreement, collective or individual, 

requires an injured employee to give the employer a 

copy of any such report. 

Medical assessor 

Medical assessors must be registered medical 

practitioners who hold vocational registration in 

general practice under the Medical Practitioners Act 

and have an interest and proven work experience, 

either in disability management in the workplace, or 

in occupational rehabilitation. They must also have at 

least five years’ experience in general practice and be 

Fellows of the Royal New Zealand College of General 

Practitioners. Otherwise they must be undertaking 

training for that purpose or towards an equivalent 

qualification, or have undertaken relevant advanced 

training (in which case they must also be members 

of recognised colleges and have work experience in 

disability management or occupational rehabilitation). 

However, if a qualified practitioner is not available 

without unreasonable delay or inconvenience, and if 

the delay would adversely affect the provision of an 

injured employee’s vocational rehabilitation, it will be 

possible for a practitioner with broadly comparable 

qualifications and experience to assess the employee. 

With an initial assessment a medical assessor must 

take into account information provided by the 

Corporation, reports, information, or comments from 

the assessor (including medical reports provided by 

the Corporation before the individual rehabilitation 

plan was prepared), the occupational assessor’s report, 

and the medical assessor’s clinical examination. 

Account may also be taken of any condition suffered 

by the claimant not related to the personal injury. 

A copy of the report goes to the injured 

employee and the Corporation, but need not 

go to the employer. So as with occupational 

assessors’ reports, employers should ensure every 

employment agreement, collective or individual, 

requires an injured employee to provide the 

employer with a copy of any medical assessment. 

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BACK 

Changing circumstances 

Vocational rehabilitation may start or resume if 

circumstances change. 

The Corporation may decide at any time that there 

has been a change of circumstances affecting 

the need for vocational rehabilitation. If so, the 

Corporation and the injured employee may agree 

to modify the current plan to reflect changed 

circumstances. 

The Corporation may restart vocational rehabilitation 

under the injured employee’s plan (with any agreed 

modifications) if, having obtained employment as 

a result of vocational rehabilitation, the employee’s 

incapacity means he or she is not able to maintain it. 

VOCATIONAL INDEPENDENCE 

Assessment 

Assessment of vocational independence (once 

vocational rehabilitation has been completed): 

The Corporation has the right to determine the 

vocational independence of an employee who 

is receiving weekly compensation or who may 

have an entitlement to weekly compensation. It 

will do this by assessing that the comprehensive 

vocational rehabilitation identified in the individual 

rehabilitation plan has been completed and has 

focused on the employee’s needs, and that any injuryrelated 

barriers have been addressed so that the 

employee is able to maintain or obtain employment, 

or to regain or acquire vocational independence. 

Vocational independence will be assessed from 

time to time, at such reasonable intervals as the 

Corporation thinks appropriate. 

A vocational independence assessment, like 

assessments for vocational rehabilitation 

purposes, comprises both an occupational and 

a medical assessment. 

An occupational assessment considers the progress 

and outcomes of vocational rehabilitation carried out 

under the employee’s individual rehabilitation plan. 

The assessment also considers whether the types of 

work identified in that plan (available or not) are still 

suitable because they match skills gained through 

education, training and experience. 

The purpose of the medical assessment is to 

provide the Corporation with an opinion whether, 

given the particular injury, the employee has the 

capacity to undertake any type of work identified 

in the occupational assessment and reflected in 

the rehabilitation plan. 

The Corporation must give notice of a requirement 

to participate in an assessment of vocational 

independence stating: 

• the purpose, nature and effect of the assessment; 

• that the injured employee has to participate; 

• the consequences of not participating; 

• the right to be accompanied by someone 

else during the assessment. 

The Corporation cannot require an injured employee 

to participate in an assessment unless the employee 

is likely to achieve vocational independence and has 

completed any rehabilitation the Corporation had to 

provide under an individual rehabilitation plan. 

IF VOCATIONAL INDEPENDENCE IS 

ESTABLISHED 

If the Corporation decides an injured employee has 

achieved vocational independence, that employee 

is no longer regarded as being incapacitated 

for employment. Instead, the employee will be 

considered able to engage in work for which he 

or she is suited by reason of experience, education, 

or training, or any combination of the three, for a 

period of 35 hours a week or more. From 1 July 2010, 

this threshold will be lowered, so that vocational 

independence will be found when the employee is fit 

to work for 30 hours a week or more. The entitlement 

to weekly compensation will then be lost three 

months after the employee has been notified of the 

Corporation’s decision. 

17

BACK 

A person whose vocational independence is 

established will be eligible for the unemployment 

benefit if he or she fails to find employment during 

the three-month period. 

IF VOCATIONAL INDEPENDENCE IS LOST 

The Corporation must reconsider vocational 

independence if, having previously decided an 

injured employee was vocationally independent (or 

if this was determined under the Accident Insurance 

Act 1998 or under the Accident Rehabilitation and 

Compensation Insurance Act 1992), later there 

are reasonable grounds for believing vocational 

independence or capacity for work may have 

deteriorated. A claimant would need to provide 

information to this effect. 

If the Corporation does subsequently decide 

that vocational independence has been lost, the 

employee will regain his or her weekly compensation 

entitlement. 

DISENTITLEMENTS 

The Corporation is not liable to provide statutory 

entitlements for personal injury caused by a workrelated 

gradual process, disease, or infection: 

• if the injury was suffered before 1 April 1974 

and the claimant had, prior to 1 April 1993, 

commenced any proceedings relating to the 

personal injury other than under the current Act 

and had received or is entitled to receive, any 

sum of money as a result of the proceedings; or 

• if the gradual process injury was suffered 

before 1 April 1974 and the claimant received 

a sum of money, whatever the amount, by way 

of damages, compensation, or settlement of 

any claim other than under the current Act. 

Wilfully inflicted injuries 

For personal injuries or death which occurred 

between 1 August 2008 and 30 June 2010, the 

fact that the personal injury was wilfully inflicted 

or resulted in death by suicide will not disentitle 

the claimant from cover. 

For personal injuries or death which occurred before 

1 August 2008, or after 30 June 2010, the Corporation 

does not have to provide any entitlement (except 

treatment) for a personal injury wilfully self-inflicted 

or which the claimant has caused to be inflicted on 

him or herself, or for death due to suicide (unless this 

was the consequence of mental injury for which the 

claimant had cover). 

CLAIMS PROCESS 

An injured employee, or anyone wishing to 

claim under the Act, must lodge a claim with the 

Corporation for injury cover, or for injury cover and 

a specified entitlement or, once the Corporation has 

accepted that there is cover for the personal injury, for 

a specified entitlement. This can be done personally 

or a treatment provider can lodge the claim on the 

injured person’s behalf (and must do so promptly). 

A claim can be lodged whether an injury is workrelated 

or non-work-related. The employee does 

not have to inform the employer that an injury 

accident has occurred. While there is an accidentreporting 

obligation on employers under the 

Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the real 

likelihood of apparently quite minor accidents 

having more serious outcomes means all employers 

should require their employees, as a term of the 

relevant employment agreement, to report every 

workplace accident to their employer or manager. 

Once the Corporation has received a claim it 

must decide whether or not there is cover under 

the Act. If it accepts the claim, the Corporation 

must provide the injured person with information 

about the entitlements it considers apply, and 

facilitate access to them. 

18

BACK 

Claims must be lodged within 12 months of the 

date on which a claimant (injured employee) suffers 

a personal injury, or in the case of a claim for an 

entitlement, within 12 months of the date on which 

the need for the entitlement arose. However, the 

Corporation must not decline a claim lodged after 

these time limits unless lateness prejudices its ability 

to make decisions. Every claim decision must be made 

on reasonable grounds and in a timely manner. 

Once a claim is lodged, the Corporation can 

require a claimant to provide a certificate from a 

registered health professional and any other relevant 

information, including health information, which may 

be needed. This can include undergoing a medical 

assessment at the Corporation’s expense. 

No later than 21 days after a claim is lodged, the 

Corporation must investigate it at its own expense 

and either make its decision and notify the claimant, 

or decide that further information is required and 

extend the time for making a decision. If this happens 

a decision must be made within four months of the 

claim being lodged. 

If the Act’s time limits are not met the claimant is 

regarded as having a decision in his or her favour. The 

Corporation must tell the claimant that the time limit 

has expired and that because of this the claimant 

has personal injury cover. In other words, the claim is 

taken as accepted once the time limit has expired. 

Special provisions apply in respect to complicated 

claims, defined as those relating to mental injuries 

caused by certain criminal acts, gradual process 

injuries, treatment injury and claims lodged later 

than the specified 12-month period. If faced with 

such a claim you should seek advice from your local 

Employers’ Organisation. 

DISPUTE RESOLUTION 

An injured employee (or any claimant) may apply to 

the Corporation for a review of any: 

• decision on a claim; or 

• delay in processing a claim 

considered unreasonable. 

An employer may apply to the Corporation for: 

• delay in processing a claim 

considered unreasonable. 

• a review of its decision that an injury is 

a work-related personal injury suffered 

during employment with that employer. 

An employer may not apply to the Corporation for a 

review of its decision about entitlements provided 

or to be provided to an employee who has suffered a 

work-related personal injury. 

A levy payer (including an employer) may apply, 

within three months of notification, for a review of a 

Corporation determination regarding the levy paid or 

payable. A levy payer is not entitled, for Income Tax 

Act purposes, to seek a review of the calculation of 

someone’s taxable income. 

A registered health professional or organisation 

may apply for a review of a Corporation decision 

that it contributed to a personal injury caused by 

medical error. 

How to apply for a review 

Review applications must be: 

• made in writing, wherever practicable on 

a form provided by the Corporation; 

• identify the decision or decisions 

to which they relate; 

• state the grounds for the application; 

• state the relief sought (if the 

applicant knows this); 

• made within three months of the date 

of a decision reached because the 

19

BACK 

Corporation has failed to meet statutory 

time limits (when an injured employee is 

automatically considered to have cover); or 

• made within three months of the injured 

employee receiving the Corporation’s 

notice regarding a claim; or 

• made within three months of the injured 

employee being notified of a decision 

under the Code of Claimants’ Rights. 

A review application relating to a claim for 

entitlement cannot be made until at least 21 days 

have passed since the entitlement claim was made. 

In all cases, late review applications will be 

accepted if the applicant: 

• was so affected or traumatised by the personal 

injury giving rise to the review as to be unable 

to consider his or her review rights; or 

• made reasonable arrangements for the 

application to be made by an agent 

but the agent unreasonably failed to 

ensure it was made on time; or 

• was not notified by the Corporation of the 

obligations of someone making an application. 

The Corporation must acknowledge review 

applications and explain that the reviewer will 

be deemed to have made a decision in the 

applicant’s favour if a hearing date has not been 

set within three months of its receiving the 

application. The Corporation must also explain 

that a review decision binds both the applicant 

and the Corporation, any person who the decision 

states has a responsibility under the Act (such as 

an employer, where the applicant is an employee), 

and any other party to the review. 

A reviewer is deemed to have made a decision in 

favour of an applicant if a hearing date has not been 

set within three months of the Corporation receiving 

the review application and the applicant did not 

cause or contribute to the delay. The deemed decision 

will apply as from the date the review application 

was received by the Corporation. However, a claimant 

who is not an applicant cannot lose cover because of 

a deemed review decision unless he or she caused or 

contributed to the delay. So even though an employer 

applicant receives a favourable ‘deemed’ review 

decision, a claimant employee will still retain cover 

provided there was no delay on the employee’s part. 

The Corporation is not liable to provide entitlements 

as the consequence of a deemed review decision 

other than those that can be provided under the Act. 

Once a review application is received 

On receiving a review application the Corporation 

must send the applicant an acknowledgement 

indicating when the application was received and 

explaining ‘deemed’ review decisions and the 

effect of a review decision. The Corporation must 

allocate a reviewer as soon as possible after receiving 

an application, even if it considers that in the 

circumstances there is no right to a review. If, for some 

reason, a new reviewer is required, the Corporation 

must allocate the new reviewer as soon as practicable. 

Reviewers are required to act independently 

and when allocated a review must disclose any 

involvement with a claim other than as a reviewer. 

Reviews may be conducted in any manner the 

reviewer thinks fit, but must comply with relevant 

provisions of the Act and with the principles of natural 

justice. Reviewers must exercise due diligence in 

decision-making, adopting an investigative approach 

with a view to conducting the review in an informal, 

timely, and practical manner. They can admit any 

relevant evidence from anyone entitled to be present 

and heard, whether or not the evidence would be 

admissible in a court of law. 

20

BACK 

A review hearing must be conducted unless an 

application is withdrawn or all those entitled to be 

heard agree not to have a hearing. 

The hearing must be held at a time and place 

agreed to by all parties to the application (if the 

application is made by an injured employee this 

does not include the employer) and by the reviewer. 

If the parties to the application cannot agree, then 

the reviewer must decide when and where the 

review hearing will be held. 

A reviewer must take all practicable steps to ensure 

notice is given to everyone entitled to be present and 

heard at least seven days prior to a hearing. Where 

the applicant is an injured employee, this will include 

the employer, see below. 

Those entitled to be present at a review hearing with 

a representative, if they want to be are: 

• the applicant and the Corporation; 

• a registered heath professional or 

organisation whose inaction or action is 

the basis for a claim of medical error; 

• a registered health professional or 

organisation (as above) where the 

applicant is a treatment provider; or: 

if the review relates to a decision to accept or decline 

cover for a work-related personal injury: 

•the claimant; 

• the claimant’s employer; and 

• in the case of a gradual process claim, any 

employer whose name the reviewer receives 

from the claimant, from the claimant’s employer, 

or from the Corporation. (Any other employer 

or former employer of the claimant is to be 

given seven days’ notice of the hearing.) 

Persons present at a hearing can either speak for 

themselves or through their representative. 

A reviewer must make a review decision within 

28 days after: 

• the day on which the hearing finishes; 

• if there is no hearing, on the day the 

applicant, the Corporation and all persons 

who would have been entitled to be present 

and heard agree not to have a hearing; 

• if no such date has been specified, the day on 

which it was agreed not to have a hearing. 

A review decision must: 

• be in writing; 

• give reasons; and 

• contain information about the right of appeal. 

The reviewer must, as soon as practicable, give 

a copy of the decision to the applicant and the 

Corporation and to any other person entitled to be 

present and heard at the hearing who was present. 

If someone entitled to be present at the hearing was 

not present, the reviewer need only provide a copy of 

the decision on request. 

The Corporation must supply a copy of a review 

decision to anyone who asks for it, but must 

ensure the decision contains no information 

identifying any individual. It may charge a fee for 

doing so but no greater than the cost of preparing 

and supplying the decision. 

In making a decision a reviewer must disregard the 

Corporation’s decision and look at the matter afresh 

on the basis of the information provided at the review. 

The reviewer must also put aside the Corporation’s 

policy and procedure and make a decision solely on 

the basis of the substantive merits of the case under 

the Act. If the review concerns a decision revised by 

the Corporation, the Corporation must establish that 

the original decision was made in error. 

The reviewer must keep an accurate record of 

evidence for at least two years. 

21

BACK 

The reviewer must either: 

• dismiss the application; or 

• modify the Corporation’s decision; or 

• quash the Corporation’s decision; or 

• direct that a decision be made within 

a time frame specified by the reviewer, 

if the Corporation has not made a 

decision in a timely manner; or 

• make a decision for the Corporation if it has 

not made a decision in a timely manner. 

If the decision is quashed, the reviewer must 

either provide a substitute decision or direct 

the Corporation to make the decision again as 

directed by the reviewer. 

The reviewer may make a decision even though 

someone entitled to be present and heard did 

not attend, unless a reasonable excuse for nonattendance 

is supplied, or the reviewer considers 

the decision should not be made until the person 

has been heard. 

A reviewer is deemed to have made a decision in an 

applicant’s favour if the Corporation has received 

a review application but has not set a hearing date 

within three months of receiving the application. 

Costs on review 

The Corporation must meet all the costs a reviewer 

incurs in conducting a review. 

Applicants who have a decision fully or partly in their 

favour must be awarded costs and expenses, whether 

or not there is a hearing. Costs and expenses may also 

be awarded to unsuccessful applicants if the reviewer 

considers an applicant acted reasonably in applying 

for a review. A reviewer may, but need not, award 

costs and expenses to any person other than the 

applicant in whose favour a decision is made. 

If following a review application, the Corporation 

revises its decision fully or partly in favour of the 

applicant before the review is heard (whether a 

reviewer has been appointed or not and whether 

or not a review hearing has been scheduled), the 

Corporation must award the applicant costs and 

expenses. 

The Corporation must pay any costs and expenses 

awarded within 28 days. 

APPEALS 

Employers may appeal to the District Court against 

a review decision that an injury was a work-related 

personal injury. As well, in the case of a gradual 

process injury, any employer entitled to be present 

and heard at a review hearing may appeal any 

decision that the injury was work-related. The Act 

does not specifically state that employers can appeal 

awards of costs and expenses, as it does in the case 

of employees (and claimants generally) and the 

Corporation (see below), but as costs and expenses 

awards can be appealed by ‘any affected person’, 

employers too, have the right to appeal against them. 

Employees—and the Corporation—may appeal 

review decisions, including awards of costs and 

expenses, except where these relate to a decision by 

the Corporation under the Code of Claimants’ Rights 

on a complaint by the claimant. 

Registered health professionals and organisations 

may appeal decisions relating to medical error. 

Bringing an appeal 

A notice of appeal must be filed in the prescribed 

form within 28 days of a reviewer giving an appellant 

a copy of the review decision, or within 28 days of 

a ‘deemed’ review decision. In the latter case this 

means 28 days after the expiry of the three-month 

period during which the Corporation, having received 

a review application, has failed to set a hearing date. 

The District Court has a discretion to allow a longer 

time for filing. 

22

BACK 

Once an appeal notice is received, the District 

Court Registrar must notify the Corporation, 

requesting the names and contact details of 

anyone who had a right to be present and heard 

at the review hearing. The Corporation must 

supply this information within seven days. 

The time and place for a review is to be fixed by the 

Registrar and notified to the appellant and to persons 

who were entitled to be present and heard at the 

review hearing. Anyone with a right to be heard 

may ask the Corporation for any of the items the Act 

requires it to provide to the Registrar—a copy of the 

decision appealed against, the record of the review 

hearing, documents and exhibits relating to the 

review, and any notes or directions of the reviewer. 

The District Court may hear any evidence it thinks 

fit whether admissible in a court of law or not. If a 

question of fact is involved, evidence taken before or 

received by the reviewer may be produced, subject 

to any order of the Court. Oral evidence may involve 

producing a copy of the reviewer’s notes and/or a 

record of the hearing, or having a witness read a 

written statement, or producing any other material 

the Court considers appropriate. Affidavit evidence 

about a question of fact may be given by means of 

affidavits provided to the Court Registrar. Exhibits 

relating to questions of fact may be brought by 

producing any exhibits forwarded to the Registrar 

or in the custody of the parties to the appeal. 

A Judge may appoint an assessor, consulting the 

parties about the appointment. If the parties cannot 

agree, the Judge has the right to decide the matter. 

Assessors are paid by the Department for Courts. 

Anyone entitled to appear and be heard may ask 

the Court to limit the persons who can be present 

at a hearing. The Court will grant the application if it 

considers it necessary to do so to protect personal 

privacy. It may not do so to protect the Corporation. 

Further appeals 

With the leave of the District Court, a party dissatisfied 

with its decision may appeal to the High Court, or 

if the District Court refuses leave, may ask the High 

Court for special leave to appeal. Appeals must be 

made within 21 days of the District Court’s decision. 

Subsequent appeals to the Court of Appeal are 

possible but are confined to questions of law. 

LEVIES 

The Act requires employers to pay a levy to fund the 

cost of entitlements for work-related personal injuries. 

Payment must be made by the date specified by 

the Corporation in an invoice or ‘other appropriate 

document’. The date must be not less than 30 days 

after the date of the invoice. A levy rate is prescribed 

in regulations made under the Act and the levy 

itself paid into a Work Account. The levy rate must 

be wholly or partially related to the amount of 

earnings paid, estimated to be paid, or deemed by 

regulation to have been paid by the employer to his 

or her employees for the relevant period. Levies are 

calculated so that the cost of Work Account claims is 

fully funded. ‘Fully funded’ means that the premium 

collected each year must be sufficient to cover the 

total on-going costs of all claims occurring in the 

premium year. 

An employer is not required to pay any levy on an 

employee’s earnings above a specified maximum. 

Consequently, if an employee’s earnings are paid by 

two or more employers, an employer (who must pay 

the levy up to the specified maximum) may, if total 

earnings exceed the specified maximum, apply to the 

Corporation for a pro rata refund of the excess levy 

paid. The refund will be calculated in proportion to 

the earnings paid by each employer to the employee. 

Appeals may be dismissed, or the Court may modify 

or quash the review decision. If the decision is 

quashed, the Court must indicate what the effect 

of this will be. 

23

BACK 

Levies are paid for a prescribed period and the 

Corporation may require an employer to pay a levy 

based on its reasonable estimate of the levy payable. 

When the prescribed period ends, the Corporation 

must, as soon as practicable, calculate the levy 

actually payable, and refund any amount greater than 

$20 with interest on any amount in excess of $1,000 

(the interest rate being prescribed by regulation). 

Similarly, the employer must pay the Corporation any 

outstanding amount greater than $20. No invoice will 

be issued for amounts less than $20. 

If, in any income year, an employer believes relevant 

employee earnings are likely to vary by 20 per cent or 

more from those of the previous year (that is, are likely 

to decrease or increase to that extent), the employer 

must notify the Corporation of the estimated increase 

or decrease. Employers may notify the Corporation of 

any lesser variation estimated. 

The Corporation must recalculate the levy in line 

with any estimate received and notify the employer 

accordingly. It may also require the employer to 

provide further information. 

Experience rating 

ACC introduced experience rating from 1 April 

2011. Experience rating is a system of modifying a 

business’s ACC work levy based on its claims history. 

Historically, the work levy has been based on injury 

rates across industry categories. A business has paid 

the same work levy as others operating in the same 

industry, despite differences in their safety record. 

Experience rating will reward those business owners 

with safer workplaces, and encourages a focus on 

improving workplace safety and making New Zealand 

businesses better places to work. 

Experience rating takes into account a business’s 

ACC claims history over an ‘experience period’ when 

setting its levies. The experience period is the three 

tax years immediately before the applicable levy year. 

Under the experience rating framework, employers 

who have lower-than-average injury rates, with 

better-than-average rehabilitation or return to work 

rates, may receive a discount on their ACC work levy. 

Those with worse-than-average claims experience 

may receive a loading on their levy. Experience rating 

will be applied in two different methods based on the 

employer’s levies. 

NO-CLAIMS DISCOUNT PROGRAMME 

Businesses (including self-employed people) who 

have paid an annual levy of less than $10,000 for all, or 

part, of the experience period will receive a no claims 

discount or a high claims loading of up to 10 per cent 

on the current portion of their levy. 

The levy adjustments for these businesses are: 

• a 10 per cent discount if no weekly 

compensation days paid have been 

made over the experience period 

• a 10 per cent loading (increase) if the 

business has generated more than 70 weekly 

compensation days paid, or any fatal claim 

• no change for a business generating between 

one and 70 weekly compensation days paid. 

Weekly compensation days are days beyond first 

week compensation paid by the employer. 

EXPERIENCE RATING PROGRAMME 

Based on their claims history, businesses who paid 

$10,000 or more in levies for each of the three years 

in the experience period could receive a discount or 

loading of up to 50 per cent on the current portion 

of their work account levy. ACC will compare the 

number of weekly compensation days that injuries in 

the workplace have generated, all claims with medical 

costs of $500 or more or any fatal claim. 

This information will be compared to other businesses 

in their Industry Levy Risk Group (LRG)—a group of 

businesses operating in the same or similar industries, 

with similar injury risk profiles. If a business’s 

performance compares favourably with others in its 

LRG its levy may be discounted. A loading may be 

applied to the work levy for employer’s who do not 

compare favourably. 

Businesses that fall below minimum liable earnings 

(currently $26,520 in the 2010/11 levy year) or have 

not been invoiced for an ACC levy for each of year 

of the experience period are exempt. Their levies 

will continue to be calculated as usual. Even if you 

are currently exempt, improving the safety and 

well-being of the people in your workplace will be 

reflected in your levy when you become eligible 

for experience rating. 

24

BACK 

Because the experience rating system is based on ACC 

data, employers should ensure that data is accurate 

by keeping comprehensive records of work place 

accidents and the number of ACC paid compensation 

days. Employers should also check experience rating 

notices from ACC against their own records to ensure 

they are accurate, and seek a review for all contested 

claims within three months of receiving the notice. 

Classification for levy purposes 

For levy purposes, the Corporation must classify 

employers in industry or risk classes that most 

accurately describe the particular employer’s 

activity. Industry or risk classes are set out in 

regulations made under the Act. 

For an employer engaged in two or more activities, 

classification will be under the industry or risk 

class attracting highest levy. However, in certain 

circumstances, where the employer requests this, 

the Corporation may classify such an employer 

separately for different activities, provided thresholds 

specified in regulations are met. For this to happen 

the activities in question must be distinct and 

independent and provide services or products to 

customers in such a way that each could, without 

adaptation, continue on its own without the other 

activities. As well, the employer’s accounting records 

must demonstrate the separate management and 

operation of each activity and allocate to each the 

earnings of employees engaged solely in that activity. 

Where an employer is engaged in two or more 

activities (as above) any employee engaged in two 

or more of those activities must be classified in the 

industry or risk class attracting the higher or highest 

levy rate. However, if the particular activity accounts 

for 5 per cent or less of an employee’s earnings for the 

year, then that activity need not be considered when 

determining the appropriate classification. But the 

employer must maintain records sufficiently accurate 

to satisfy the Corporation that the apportionment of 

total earning is correct. 

If none of the classifications of industry or risk defined 

in regulations apply to the activity of a particular 

employer, or self-employed person, the Corporation 

may define a classification that it considers 

appropriate. The new classification will then apply 

to all persons involved in the activity not covered by 

a classification defined by regulations, and may be 

incorporated in the relevant regulations when these 

are next amended. 

In some cases it will be possible for the Corporation 

to make arrangements that enable employers to 

carry out self-assessments, but in any event, levies 

may not be prescribed by the Minister responsible 

for the administration of the Act unless he or she first 

considers a recommendation from the Corporation, 

based on its consultations with levy payers (although 

the Minister is entitled to reject the recommendation). 

Corporation intentions in regard to levy and certain 

other regulations must be advertised in national 

newspapers and submissions called for. 

Risk adjustment of employer levies 

An employer levy may be adjusted up or down following 

an audit of an employer’s safety management practices. 

The Minister must approve audit tools, measuring such 

practices against independent New Zealand or foreign 

standards. The Corporation is required to make a copy of 

every audit tool approved by the Minister available free 

of charge for public inspection. 

Criteria for upward adjustment 

of levies 

The Corporation may start on a process to increase 

levies if it considers the number of injuries occurring 

to the employer’s employees is significantly greater 

than might reasonably be expected for a comparable 

employer of that type and size in that industry or 

risk class. (Criteria on which to base its decision 

are set out in the Act.) In initiating the process the 

Corporation must notify the employer of its reasons 

for doing so and explain that the purpose of the 

process is to decide whether or not the employer’s 

safety management practices should be audited. The 

notice must also state that the Corporation and the 

employer are required to ‘enter into a dialogue’ about 

the standard of the employer’s safety management 

practices, and that failure to reach the standard 

required by an audit, or failure to allow an audit to 

take place, may result in an increase in the employer’s 

levies (an ‘upward adjustment of’). 

25

BACK 

After the notice is given, the Corporation and the 

employer must discuss the standard of the employer’s 

safety management practices. The Corporation 

should consider: 

• whether the employer should initiate a self-audit; 

• whether the Corporation should assist; and 

• whether the Corporation should help the 

employer to understand the need to improve 

safety management practices and how to do this. 

The employer must be given a reasonable 

opportunity to explain and comment on the health 

and safety situation in the workplace. 

When the Corporation/employer dialogue has 

concluded, the Corporation must, on the basis of 

the information gathered, decide whether to carry 

out an audit of the employer’s health and safety 

management practices and notify the employer of 

its decision. 

If the employer refuses to allow an audit to take 

place, or the audit cannot be completed in a 

reasonable time because the employer fails to 

participate, or because of the way in which the 

employer participates, the Corporation may increase 

the employer’s levies without completing the audit. 

If the employer fails to reach the required standard, 

the Corporation must increase the employer’s levies. 

It must not do so if the standard required by the 

audit tool is reached. 

If, later on, an employer whose levies have 

increased reaches the audit tool standard and a levy 

readjustment is required, the levies must return to the 

standard rate for an employer in that industry or risk 

class. 

Workplace safety management 

practices (WSMP) 

ACC operates a workplace safety management 

practices programme (WSMP). Under this 

programme audits are conducted to assess 

safety management practices of the employer to 

determine whether a discount should be placed 

on the employer levies. Employers can make an 

application to ACC to enter the WSMP programme. 

ACC—approved auditors assess the safety 

management practices of the employer based on a 

list of standardised criteria. This standard criteria is 

available to employers making an application to ACC. 

There are three levels of safety management that the 

employer can achieve under the WSMP system; the 

primary level, secondary level and tertiary level. If all 

of the audit requirements at each level are achieved 

then the employer can receive a corresponding 

discount in their Workplace Cover Levy; 10 per cent 

for primary level, 15 per cent for secondary level, 

and 20 per cent for tertiary level. Business Central 

member only consultants can be engaged for an 

additional fee to help employers achieve the WSMP 

standards. 

ACC Workplace Safety Discount 

Programme 

This programme, which was previously open to 

employers in certain industries, is open to small to 

medium employers in all industries from 1 April 

2013. If approved, employers will receive a 10 

percent discount to their work levy. Some details: 

The ACC Workplace Safety Discount programme 

is a great way for small to medium businesses and 

self-employed clients to save 10 per cent on the 

work component of their ACC levy. 

The discount is valid for three years from the date the 

application is accepted, including the year in which 

the application is accepted. 

To be eligible, you must either be: 

• self-employed; or 

• running a small to medium business with a 

total annual payroll of $537,000 (or less) or 

have 10 (or fewer) full-time employees. 

26

BACK 

Employers are required to: 

• Provide evidence of other training or experience 

• Correctly complete and return 

a simple application form 

• Attach the appropriate documentation for the 

self-assessment section of the application form. 

For more information on how to apply, go to the 

Workplace Safety Discount Programme page on 

the ACC website. 

WORK ACCOUNT 

The purpose of the Work Account is to finance 

entitlements for individuals whose entitlements 

would have been provided from the Work Account 

under the Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation 

Insurance Act 1992. The Work Account covers: 

• work injuries suffered before 1 July 1999; 

• non-work injuries suffered by earners 

before 1 July 1992 (when employers funded 

both work and non-work accidents); 

• costs incurred by the Corporation as a 

contributing insurer where an injury was 

caused or contributed to before 1 July 1999 

(that is, during the time the Corporation was 

the sole provider of accident compensation. 

(From 1 July 1999 to 31 March 2000 there was 

a short period when employers were able to 

choose their own private accident insurer.) 

Funds for the Work account are derived from levies 

payable by employers, private domestic workers, 

and self—employed persons. The funds in the Work 

account must be applied to meet the costs of: 

• Entitlements in respect of employee, private 

domestic workers and self—employed persons 

for work—related personal injuries; and 

• Entitlements that would have been 

funded from the Residual Claims Account 

immediately before the commencement 

of the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and 

Compensation Amendment Act 2009; and 

• Entitlements in respect of certain persons 

whose entitlements would have been provided 

from the Self- Employed Work Account under 

the Accident Insurance Act 1998; and 

• obligations under accident insurance contracts 

of employers and private domestic workers, and 

for self—employed persons taken on by the 

Corporation under section 7 of the Accident 

Insurance (Transitional Provisions) Act 2000; and 

• entitlements in respect of employers, private 

domestic workers, and self- employed persons 

that, immediately before 1 April 2007, would 

have been funded from the Self- Employed 

Work Account or the Employers account; 

The levy is intended to fully fund outstanding 

claims’ liability by 31 March 2019. 

Promotion of employer involvement 

In carrying out its duties in relation to the Work 

Account, the Corporation must take all practicable 

steps to ensure that to the extent practicable, 

employers are involved in the rehabilitation of 

individuals covered by the Work Account. The 

‘employers’ referred to are the employer who was 

employing the injured employee at the time the 

injury was suffered, and employers in the same 

industry class as that employer. 

ACCREDITED EMPLOYERS 

The Act allows employers—in particular 

larger employers—to enter into accreditation 

agreements with the Corporation to provide, at 

their own cost, entitlements in respect of workrelated 

personal injuries suffered by their employees. 

Before entering into an accredited employer 

agreement the employer must consult his or her 

employees, or their representatives, including any 

registered union, about the employer’s ability to 

comply with the relevant statutory requirements. 

27

BACK 

Accreditation, reducing the cost of levies payable to 

the Corporation (some payment will be required to 

fund the cost of residual, unfunded claims), will be 

granted if the Corporation considers the employer: 

• has appropriate experience in managing 

occupational health and safety issues ‘positively’; 

• has demonstrated a commitment to injury 

prevention and an understanding and 

awareness of the importance of rehabilitation 

and the employer’s involvement in rehabilitation; 

• has appropriate injury prevention policies and 

procedures in place and adequate resources 

to manage work-related personal injury claims, 

to promote and manage rehabilitation, and to 

fulfil reporting requirements (see below); and 

• is financially solvent and therefore able, 

and able to continue, to meet expected 

financial and other obligations relating 

to work-related personal injury claims. 

The Corporation may revoke an accreditation 

agreement at any time if, having discussed the matter 

with the employer, it decides that the employer no 

longer fulfils the above requirements or complies 

with the framework to be established by the Minister 

for accreditation purposes. 

Under an accreditation agreement an employer is 

liable for some or all of the entitlements accruing in 

respect of a work-related personal injury suffered 

by his or her employees. In return, reduced levies 

are charged on the basis set out in the framework. 

An accreditation agreement may provide for the 

employer to recover contributions from insurers (in 

respect to the period when private accident insurance 

applied), other accredited employers, and/or the 

Corporation, as, for example, in the case of gradual 

process and subsequent injuries. An accreditation 

agreement may also provide for an accredited 

employer to make contributions to insurers, other 

accredited employers, and the Corporation. 

During the claim management period, an accredited 

employer must manage every work-related personal 

injury claim suffered by an employee, provide any 

entitlements, and pay the costs specified in relation 

to such claims. However, the Corporation may, in 

some cases, agree to assume some or all of the 

employer’s liability on such terms and conditions as 

it thinks fit. The Act provides for what will happen if 

an accredited employer ceases to exist or fails, or is 

unable to perform obligations under an accreditation 

agreement. (In the event of insolvency, receivership, 

or liquidation, any debt constituting payment of 

weekly compensation will rank in priority next after 

wages or salary.) In dealing with any injured employee 

an accredited employer must comply with the Code 

of ACC Claimants’ Rights. 

A Corporation monitoring programme may audit 

the activities of accredited employers to ensure 

statutory requirements are being met and that 

accurate and complete reports have been provided 

to the Corporation. Where an audit is carried out, the 

employer, and employee representatives (including 

any registered union) must be given the opportunity 

to be heard. 

Reporting and information 

Accredited employers must report to the Corporation 

in accordance with their accreditation agreement. 

Information supplied will be available for use by the 

Corporation’s information manager in facilitating the 

Government’s overall injury management strategy. 

An accredited employer must also, without charge, 

provide each employee with a written statement 

setting out the procedures and requirements under 

the accreditation agreement relating to the lodging 

of claims, claims’ handling, provision of rehabilitation, 

assessment of incapacity, and dispute resolution. 

28

BACK 

COVER FOR NON-WORK 

RELATED PERSONAL INJURY 

As well as accidents in the workplace resulting 

in injury and incapacity, the Corporation covers 

injuries suffered by non-earners and by earners 

who are injured other than at work. It also covers 

motor vehicle accidents and accidents caused 

by one or other of the forms of treatment injury 

identified by the Act—medical error and medical 

mishap. Such accidents are funded from a number 

of accounts apart from the Work Account, allowing 

the Corporation to cover them without crosssubsidisation 

between the various injury categories. 

Earners’ account 

The account finances statutory entitlements for 

employees who suffer non-work injuries. It is funded 

through levies payable by employees set at a rate 

prescribed in regulations made under the Act. The 

levy is paid in instalments as if it were income tax, 

that is, it is deducted at source as PAYE and the rules 

governing PAYE apply to it. However, an earners’ 

levy deduction is not to be treated as part of a tax 

deduction payment. 

If an employee’s earnings include a benefit such as 

board and lodging, or any other benefit in kind which 

is included in the employee’s wages, or any payment 

by way of pension, superannuation, retiring allowance, 

other allowance, or annuity, that amount must be 

taken into account when determining the deduction 

to be made for levy purposes. If an employer makes a 

deduction but fails to deal with it in the way the Act 

requires, the deduction, for Tax Administration Act 

purposes, will rank equally with the amount of any tax 

deduction the employer has not paid. 

Non-earners’ account 

As its name indicates, the account funds accidents to 

non-earners. Funds come from general taxation and 

provide for treatment costs, rehabilitation and the 

like. Non-earners are people who are neither in paid 

employment nor self-employed, including retired 

people and children. 

Motor vehicle account 

The account funds injuries involving the use of 

motor vehicles, including some arising in a work 

context, which are also categorised as work-related 

injuries for the purposes of employer-paid first week 

compensation (see under ‘Work-Related Personal 

Injury’). Funds for motor vehicle injuries come from a 

levy paid by every registered motor vehicle owner, by 

everyone who holds a trade licence, and from a petrol 

tax on every litre of motor spirits in respect of which 

duty is payable under the Customs and Excise Act 

1996. 

Treatment injury account 

Funds for this account come from any levies payable 

by registered health professionals or any organisation 

that provides treatment under the Act. If there is no 

such levy, or the levy relates only to funding part of 

the Account, funds will come from either the Earners’ 

or Non-Earners’ Account, as appropriate. 

CODE OF ACC CLAIMANT’S 

RIGHTS 

The Act provides for a Code of ACC Claimants’ Rights 

to be developed so that claimants can know what 

they can reasonably expect when dealing with the 

Accident Compensation Corporation. Among other 

things, the Code will: 

• provide remedies where the Corporation 

has breached the Code; 

• explain a claimant’s right to a review 

of any decision the Corporation makes 

about a claimant’s complaint. 

A claimant who wants a review will be able to use 

the dispute resolution procedures set out in the Act. 

The Code’s rights and obligations are additional to 

any other claimant rights or Corporation obligations. 

They do not affect claimants’ entitlements or 

responsibilities under the Act itself, under any 

other enactment, or under the general law. The 

Code applies both to the Corporation itself and 

to accredited employers under ACC’s Partnership 

Programme in their dealings with accident 

compensation claimants. 

29

BACK 

TERMINATION OF 

EMPLOYMENT 

While an employee is on ACC they remain employed 

despite their absence. An employer should maintain 

regular contact with the employee to keep updated 

on their progress and their expected date of return to 

work. When an employee has been incapacitated and 

unable to attend work for an extended period of time 

due to an injury an employer may have to assess the 

employee’s on-going employment with the Company. 

An employee should first be given a reasonable 

opportunity to recover and any decision to 

terminate their employment should be based on the 

business need to replace that employee. For further 

information, please refer to the section on Incapacity/ 

Long Term Illness in the Employer Guide on discipline 

and termination and contact the AdviceLine Team 

or your Business Central Employment Relations 

Consultant for further advice. 

DEFINITIONS 

Accident 

‘Accident’ means: 

• a specific event or series of events involving 

the application of a force (including gravity) 

or resistance external to the human body, 

or the sudden movement of the body to 

avoid such an external force or resistance, 

or involves a twisting movement of the 

body, other than a gradual process; 

• the inhalation or oral ingestion of any solid, 

liquid, gas or foreign object on a specific 

occasion, other than the inhalation or 

ingestion of a virus, bacterium, protozoa 

or fungus, unless that inhalation or 

ingestion is the result of a criminal act of a 

person other than the injured person; 

• a burn or exposure to radiation rays of any 

kind, on a specific occasion, not including 

a burn or exposure caused by exposure to 

the elements (sunburn, for example); 

• the absorption of any chemical through 

the skin within a defined period of 

time not exceeding one month; 

• any exposure to the elements or to extremes of 

temperature or environment, within a defined 

period of time not exceeding one month that: 

for a continuous period of more than one month 

results in any restriction or lack of ability preventing 

the performance of an activity in the manner or 

within the range considered normal for that person; 

or causes death. 

‘Accident’ does not include: 

• any of the above occurrences if 

they are treatment given: 

• in New Zealand by, or at the direction 

of, a registered health professional; or 

• outside New Zealand by, or at the direction 

of, a person who has qualifications 

the same or equivalent to those of a 

registered health professional; or 

• any ecto-parasitic infestation (such as 

scabies), unless it is work-related; or 

• the contraction of any disease carried by 

an arthropod as an active vector (such 

as malaria resulting from a mosquito 

bite), unless it is work-related. 

The fact that someone has suffered a personal injury 

is not of itself to be construed as an indication or 

presumption that it was caused by an accident. 

Employee 

‘Employee’ means: 

A natural person who receives or 

is entitled to receive— 

• any amount that is treated as income from 

employment as defined in paragraph (a) of 

the definition of income from employment in 

section OB 1 of the Income Tax Act 1994; or 

• any salary, wages or other gross 

income to which section OB 2(2) of 

the Income Tax Act 1994 applies. 

(Income from employment is essentially salary or 

wages and any extra emoluments. It also includes 

accident compensation payments.) 

30

BACK 

Employer 

‘Employer’ means: 

a person who pays, or is liable to pay— 

• any amount that, in relation to any other 

person, is treated as income from employment, 

as defined in paragraph (a) of the definition 

of income from employment in section 

OB 1 of the Income Tax Act 1994; and 

• any salary, wages or other gross 

income to which section OB 2(2) of the 

Income Tax Act 1994 applies; but 

• does not include, for the purpose of Part 6 of the 

Accident Compensation Act, (‘Management of 

the Scheme’), a person who is an employer solely 

by reason of any of paragraphs (f), (g), (h), (i), (ia), 

(ib), or (iba) of the definition of salary or wages 

in section OB 1 of the Income Tax Act 1994. 

(In other words, the employer is not required to pay 

the employee’s tax on earnings-related compensation 

payments (other than first week compensation) or 

any other compensation payment made to an injured 

employee. The exception is where an employer has 

entered into an agreement with the Corporation to 

provide injured employees with their entitlements. 

This can be done either by becoming an accredited 

employer or by entering into a reimbursement 

agreement which means that the employer pays 

compensation entitlements to the injured employee 

and is reimbursed by the Corporation.) 

Incapacity 

For the purposes of determining incapacity, 

incapacity means: 

• in the case of an earner or someone on 

unpaid parental leave, determining whether 

that person is unable, because of injury, to 

engage in employment in which he or she 

was employed when the injury was suffered. 

The Corporation must also determine the incapacity 

for employment of someone deemed still to be 

an employee, because he or she was an employee 

within 14 days before incapacity commenced 

and would have been an employee within three 

months (or 12 months if a seasonal employee— 

confirmation required from the employer), is a 

potential employee, or has purchased the right to 

receive weekly compensation. 

Personal injury 

Personal injury means: 

•death; 

• physical injuries, including a strain or sprain; 

• mental injury suffered by someone as a 

consequence of his or her physical injuries; 

• mental injury caused by a criminal 

act (set out in the Act’s Schedule 3 

and generally of a sexual nature); 

• work-related mental injury that is suffered 

by a person in certain circumstances (see 

under ‘Work—related mental injury’ above); 

• damage, (other than wear and tear) to 

dentures or prostheses (such as artificial limbs) 

that replace a part of the human body. 

• from 1 July 2010, any degree of hearing loss 

that is 6 per cent or more of binaural hearing 

loss caused by a personal injury as a result of: 

an accident to the person; a treatment injury; a 

consequence of treatment given to the person 

for another personal injury for which the person 

has cover; a personal injury caused by a workrelated 

gradual process disease or infection; a 

consequence of treatment given for a personal 

injury caused by a work- related gradual process 

disease or infection for which the person has 

cover; a cardio-vascular or cerebro- vascular 

episode that is a treatment injury suffered 

by the person; or a personal injury that is a 

cardio-vascular or cerebro- vascular episode. 

31

BACK 

Personal injury does not include: 

• injury caused wholly or substantially by a 

gradual process, disease, or infection (except in 

the circumstances set out under the heading 

‘Gradual process, disease, or infection’); 

• a cardio-vascular or cerebro-vascular episode 

(except in the circumstances described 

under ‘Cardio-vascular, cerebro-vascular’); 

• personal injury caused wholly or 

substantially by the ageing process; 

• personal injury to teeth or dentures 

caused by their natural use. 

• from 1 July 2010, any degree of hearing 

loss that is 6 per cent or more of binaural 

hearing loss caused by a personal injury: 

that is not caused by the circumstances 

described above; or is caused by the ageing 

process; or is caused by any other factors. 

Place of employment 

‘Place of employment’ means any premises or place: 

• occupied for the purposes of employment; or 

• to which a person has access because 

of his or her employment; or 

• attended for a course of education or training 

for the purposes of current employment, if 

the employee receives earnings from that 

employment for his or her attendance. 

ACC AS A NO FAULT SCHEME 

Recent changes to the Sentencing Act 2002 bring 

into question whether ACC is a completely no fault 

scheme. The Supreme Court in 2009 ruled that 

reparation could not be ordered for earnings lost due 

to an injury, even if ACC compensation did not meet 

the full extent of the loss. However the Sentencing 

Amendment Act 2014 has overturned that decision. 

Under the amendment Courts will now be able to 

order reparation to top-up any shortfall in a victim’s 

ACC compensation. Shortfalls include the 20 percent 

of wages not recoverable under ACC compensation, 

any shortfall in earnings if the ACC compensation has 

been calculated on artificially low earnings, and the 

shortfall if a claimant’s weekly earnings exceed the 

maximum weekly compensation under ACC. 

This is relevant for employers who are found liable 

under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 for 

workplace injuries resulting in an employee needing 

time off work. The employer could be made to top 

up the weekly compensation to address any of the 

above shortfalls. The amendment came into effect 

on 6 December 2014. 

‘Practicable’ 

In relation to rehabilitation, practicable means 

practicable after considering and balancing: 

• the nature and consequences of the injury; 

• the achievement of rehabilitation outcomes; 

•costs; 

•cost effectiveness; 

• the availability of other forms of rehabilitation; 

• other relevant factors 

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APPENDIX 

Occupational diseases 

1. Pneumoconioses caused by sclerogenetic 

mineral dust (silicosis, anthraco-silicosis, 

asbestosis) and silico-tuberculosis, provided 

that silicosis is an essential factor in causing 

the resultant incapacity or death. 

2. Lung cancer or mesothelioma 

diagnosed as caused by asbestos. 

3. Diseases of a type generally accepted 

by the medical profession as caused by 

beryllium or its toxic compounds. 



phosphorus or its toxic compounds. 


by the medical profession as caused 

by chrome or its toxic compounds. 



manganese or its toxic compounds. 



by arsenic or its toxic compounds. 



by mercury or its toxic compounds. 



by lead or its toxic compounds. 


by the medical profession as 

caused by carbon bisulphide. 



by the toxic halogen derivatives of 

hydrocarbons of the aliphatic series. 



benzene or its toxic homologues. 



by nitro- and amido-toxic derivatives 

of benzene or its homologues. 


by the medical profession as 

caused by ionising radiations. 

15. Primary epitheliomatous cancer of the skin 

diagnosed as caused by tar, pitch, bitumen, 

mineral oil, anthracene, or the compounds, 

products, or residues of these substances. 

16. Anthrax infection. 

17. Leptospirosis diagnosed as caused by 

working with animals or their carcasses. 

18. Brucellosis diagnosed as caused by 


19. Orf diagnosed as caused by working 

with animals or their carcasses. 

20. Streptococcus suis diagnosed as caused by 


21. Angiosarcoma of the liver diagnosed as 

caused by vinyl chloride monomer. 

22. Byssinosis diagnosed as caused by working 

with cotton, flax, hemp, or sisal dust. 

23. Pneumoconiosis diagnosed as caused 

by tin, iron oxide, barium, or cobalt. 

24. Diseases of a type generally accepted by the 

medical profession as caused by tungsten. 

25. Hand-arm vibration syndrome diagnosed 

as caused by hand and/or arm vibration. 

26. Sino-nasal carcinoma diagnosed as 

caused by working with wood dust. 

27. Diseases of a type generally accepted by the 

medical profession as caused by ethylene oxide. 

28. Extrinsic allergic alveolitis diagnosed as caused 

by work involving the inhalation of organic dusts. 

29. Naso-pharyngeal carcinoma diagnosed 

as caused by formaldehyde. 

30. Laryngeal carcinoma diagnosed as caused 

by sulphuric acid mists or organic solvents. 

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31. Lung cancer diagnosed as caused by bis 

(chloromethyl) ether (and chloromethyl 

methyl ether), cadmium, coke oven 

emissions, nickel, radon, silica, or soot. 

32. Primary epitheliomatous cancer of the 

skin diagnosed as caused by shale oil. 

33. Bladder carcinoma diagnosed as 

caused by 2-naphthylamine, benzidine, 

4-aminobiphenyl, N, N-Bis (2-chloroethyl)- 

2-naphthylamine, other aromatic amines, 

or poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. 

34. Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosed 

as caused by wood dust. 

35. Chronic solvent-induced encephalopathy 

diagnosed as caused by organic 

solvents, particularly styrene, toluene, 

xylene, trichloroethylene, methylene 

chloride, or white spirit. 

36. Peripheral neuropathy diagnosed as caused 

by organic solvents such as n-hexane, carbon 

disulphide, or trichloroethylene; pesticides 

such as organophosphates; acrylamide. 

37. Occupational asthma diagnosed as caused 

by recognised sensitising agents inherent 

in the work process such as, but not limited 

to, isocyanates, certain wood dusts, flour 

dusts, animal proteins, enzymes, and latex. 

38. Chronic obstructive pulmonary 

disease diagnosed as caused by coal, 

silica, cotton dust, or grain dust. 

39. Chronic renal failure diagnosed as 

caused by metals such as cadmium or 

copper, including via welding fumes. 

40. Occupational allergic contact dermatitis 

diagnosed as caused by recognised sensitising 

agents inherent in the work process such as, 

but not limited to, nickel and other metals, 

rubber additives, resins, petroleum distillates, 

solvents, soaps, detergents, and plant allergens. 

41. Vitiligo diagnosed as caused by para-tertiarybutylphenol, 

para-tertiary-butylcatechol, paraamylphenol, 

hydroquinone, or the monobenzyl 

or monobutyl ether of hydroquinone. 

34

004_ACC_April_2016

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