Welcome to the latest edition of HWL Ebsworth’s National Workers Compensation Quarterly Review.
We are delighted to bring you another series of articles reflecting recent legal and other industry developments within the workers compensation sector across different States and Territories.
We hope that you will enjoy this edition of our Quarterly Review and encourage you to pass it on to any colleagues to whom it would also be of interest. If anyone would like to be added to our direct mailing list, please contact marketing@hwle.com.au.
ACT
1,291 physio sessions are quite enough, says AAT
In Oliver v Comcare, the AAT agreed with Comcare that it was not reasonable for an injured worker to continue with physiotherapy, even for a permanent chronic pain condition.
To read more, click here.
New South Wales
Blameless recovery? Who knew?
Recovery of payments made to injured workers following workplace injuries was thought to require the identification of a third party tortfeasor/wrongdoer whose negligent actions would result in damages being payable to the worker in third party proceedings. These were normally in the form of a head contractor, third party driver or host employer but has the Court of Appeal in NSW widened the net to include motor accidents that are deemed ‘blameless’ under the Motor Accidents Compensation Act? Is an actual third party liability now not required?
To read more, click here.
Queensland
Queensland workers’ compensation update: Questioning the finality of Medical Assessment Tribunal decisions
In the recent case of JJ Richards & Sons v Workers’ Compensation Regulator, the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission has held that the decisions of the Medical Assessment Tribunal are only binding in relation to medical matters and do not preclude a party from challenging the factual and legal issues concerning whether the ‘personal injury’ is an ‘injury’ within the meaning of s 32 of the WCRA.
To read more, click here.
South Australia
The Return to Work Act, 2014 – What is likely to happen in lead up to 30 June 2017?
It is no secret that the Return to Work Act 2014 (the Act) has introduced some significant changes to the South Australian workers compensation system. In this article we explore the likely trends and matters to consider when some of the changes start to have effect.
To read more, click here.
Victoria
Stress in the workplace: the engagement of the employer’s duty to avoid psychiatric injury
Stress claims in the workplace often involve disagreements about who said to what to whom – often described as ‘he said/she said’ scenarios. The Victorian Court of Appeal recently assessed such a scenario and, in the process, made some useful comments about how to identify when an employer’s duty to avoid causing psychiatric injury is actually engaged.
To read more, click here.
Western Australia
The do’s and don’ts of deemed diseases
Recent win in the District Court in a matter that involved a nurse who claimed she contracted a communicable disease, golden staph, during her employment.
To read more, click here.
We hope you find this edition informative and insightful.