An employer has been found liable for a worker's psych injury because it "blindsided" him with a redundancy meeting shortly after he returned to work from long-term sick leave, during which he was induced to believe his job was secure.
An excessive focus on preventing sick leave, and the absence of "preventive support", are common to interventions for workers with chronic conditions, according to researchers who say employers need to move away from reactive measures.
Violence continues into the workplace for many workers experiencing domestic violence and it is time to challenge the "myth" that this is not a workplace issue, according to Diversity Council Australia and violence against women prevention organisation Our Watch.
A tribunal full bench has upheld an important finding that a worker did not engage in serious and wilful misconduct when he refused to undergo a surprise drug test while certified unfit for work.
A commission has reaffirmed that workers' compensation payments constitute "pay", as established in a recent important decision on the relationship between workers' comp arrangements and the accrual of annual and sick leave.
Workers who experience workplace bullying and threats or acts of violence are up to twice as likely to have long spells of sick leave, researchers have found.
A tribunal has rejected claims that a worker, whose mental illness was aggravated by a return-to-work process, was not injured "in the course of employment" because he had not commenced any actual work.
In an important decision on a contentious issue, a commission has found a worker was not "absent without pay" when he was off work on workers' comp benefits, and had been entitled to accrue annual and sick leave.
The COVID-19 pandemic and remote working arrangements are exacerbating the significant health and safety risks posed by sickness presenteeism, but they also provide an opportunity to establish cultural norms that encourage workers to take sick leave when they have infectious diseases or other illnesses, organisational psychologists say.
