6.1.2.2 Who can apply for entitlements
Any person
Any person who has incurred:
- medical and like services provided to the worker
-
the burial or cremation, including repatriation
as a result of a work-related An injury/disease is work related if it arose out of or in the course of employment and the scope of employment. death of a worker is eligible to claim the reasonable costs of those expenses.
See: Medical & like expenses | Burial or cremation
Family member
Travel & accommodation expenses
Immediate family members Family member means a partner, parent, grandparent, sibling or child of the worker or of the worker's partner of a deceased worker who has incurred reasonable travel or accommodation expenses to attend the burial or cremation service of a worker when the service is held at least 100 kilometres from their normal residence.
Family counselling
Immediate family members of a deceased worker seeking or claiming for grief counselling services.
Before counselling can be paid, it must be established that the person is a family member Family member means a partner, parent, grandparent, sibling or child of the worker or of the worker's partner under the legislation.
See: Eligibility for entitlement | Medical & like expenses
Dependent person
Persons who, at the time of the worker’s death, believe they were to any extent dependent on the earnings of a deceased worker can claim compensation for the work-related death of that worker.
1. Partner
Depending on the date of the worker’s death, ‘partner’ can include the spouse Spouse of a person means a person to whom that person is married of the deceased worker or a domestic partner within the meaning of the WIRC Act Workplace Injury Rehabilitation & Compensation Act 2013.
The earnings of the partner or spouse, including savings from their earnings, are not taken into account when determining their dependency on the deceased worker.
Note: If the worker’s death occurred before 23 August 2001, only a spouse or a person of the opposite sex can qualify as a partner if they were living with the worker at the time of the worker’s death:
- as though married
- on a permanent and bona fide domestic basis.
2. Domestic partner
A domestic partner is someone the deceased person lived with on a genuine domestic basis, taking into account the circumstances of their relationship, irrespective of gender or marital status.
The earnings of the partner, including savings from their earnings, are not considered when determining their dependency on the deceased worker.
3. Child and orphan child
Children and orphan children can include partners' children from a previous relationship.
A legally enforceable requirement to pay maintenance (such as pursuant to a garnishee The holding back of a part of compensation from a worker who is indebted to the Commonwealth. order) to a child is evidence of dependency.
Children and orphan children can be established as dependents until they are 16 years of age and if they are a full-time Full-time worker means a worker who is employed for at least the normal number of hours fixed in any industrial award applicable to the worker or if there is no applicable award the prescribed number of hours student or a full-time apprentice, until 31 December in the year they turn 25 years of age.
Note: An orphan child may still have a living parent Parent of a worker includes a person who has day to day care and control of the worker but they are classified as an orphan child if, at the time of the death of the worker, their parent did not provide them with any economic support and was not a dependent partner of the deceased worker.
Note: a child aged 16 years or more, living with a disability (under the Disability Act 2006), does not meet the eligibility criteria for an entitlement.
4. Other person
Other person who is to any extent dependent on the deceased worker’s earnings may be entitled to compensation if there are no dependent partners or children.
5. Family member
The family of the deceased worker is entitled to compensation if:
- the worker was under 21 years when they died
- there are no dependent partners or children and
- the worker was contributing to the maintenance of the family home.
Non-dependent family member
Non-dependent family members of the deceased worker may be entitled to reimbursement of reasonable expenses where the deceased worker leaves no dependants. The Magistrates’ Court must determine both eligibility and quantum up to the maximum amount (indexed 1 July each year) per death. The court must be satisfied that the applicant suffered financial hardship as a result of reasonably incurring specified expenses as a result of the worker’s death.