Browsing: Absenteeism/sick leave | Page 11

Preventing a resurgence of COVID-19 transmissions, as economic activity picks up, hinges on the introduction of a "pandemic regulation" requiring employers to implement higher order WHS controls for the risks posed by the pandemic, an inquiry has heard.

Australia's COVID-19 transmission rate is currently low, but having an employee with viral symptoms attend work still poses a significant psychological risk to other workers, according to a leading occupational physician and past president of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine.

A worker whose psychological injury became incapacitating after her employer refused to reclassify her sick leave has been given another chance to seek compensation, in a full Federal Court case examining the application of administrative action exclusions.

• Employer fined for non-causal failures after fatal fall;
  
• COVID-19 work cluster sparks renewed calls for WHS overhaul; and
  
• COVID-19 safety strategies announced in Tas and NT.

Guided problem-solving meetings between workers with common mental disorders and their managers can reverse any "mismatch" with the work environment, significantly reducing sick leave and improving return-to-work times, Swedish researchers have found.

• Step up workplace cleaning for COVID-19 pandemic;
  
• More work-related COVID-19 developments from around the country; and
  
• Employer and director face more dangerous goods charges.

• Complying with work privacy laws during COVID-19 pandemic; and
  
• Coronavirus updates from PM, Vic, Qld and SA.

Coronavirus controls and restrictions have been stepped up across the country, with exemptions for certain workplaces and workers, while the ACTU's "name and fame" list of businesses providing special paid sick leave to staff is rapidly growing.

NSW has issued advice on commuting safely to work during the COVID-19 pandemic, while both NSW and Victoria have introduced tough penalties for those who breach new isolation orders, and Western Australia has announced special leave arrangements for public servants affected by the coronavirus, in a bid to maintain safe working environments and reduce the spread of the disease.

Employers have been urged to ensure workers diagnosed with or suspected of having COVID-19 don't have a financial incentive to avoid self-isolating and go to work, exposing their colleagues and community members to the risk of infection.