Browsing: Return to work and rehabilitation | Page 42

Employers should consider a host of factors when determining what reasonable adjustments to make to accommodate ill or injured workers, including changes to facilities and work hours, says Herbert Smith Freehills lawyer Helen Donovan.

The high number of workers' comp claims lodged in Queensland every year could be nearly halved under an amended system for reporting injuries, according to a Q-COMP plan available for public comment.

Researchers have urged employers to encourage injured workers to return to work more swiftly, after they found those who are absent on workers' comp for longer than six months are highly likely to gain weight, increasing the chances of further claims.

Injured workers less likely to sue if supervisors contact them; Safety inspectors issue 129 notices in a week; and Research on quad bike stability commences in NSW.

Victoria launches RTW campaign after absences linked to poor mental health; and Queensland introduces new electrical equipment safety system.

A truck driver, whose workers' comp payments were suspended when he refused to undertake a RTW program, has had his appeal dismissed in the AAT. Also in this article, a Telstra team leader who took 154 sick leave days has lost her bid for workers' compensation.

A Victorian amputee, who fraudulently obtained more than $112,000 in workers' comp benefits with the help of six complicit care providers, has been jailed for 16 months.

An injured Victorian worker who allegedly faced the sack because he couldn't perform his pre-injury duties - even though he had been transferred to another position - has retained his job in a settlement.

Two Victorian workers, whose weekly workers' compensation payments were terminated after 130 weeks, have had their benefits reinstated, after the Magistrates Court found the proposed alternative occupations for the workers are unrealistic.

An ACT employer has been ordered to pay more than $185,000 in damages to a worker who was placed in a high-risk role on the day she returned to work after being absent with a psychological injury.