Doctors in the ACT have been directed to use "fit notes" to help sick and injured workers return to work as soon as possible, in the first stage of a plan to implement the new certificates nationally under the Comcare scheme, the Federal Employment Minister announced today.
One of the most effective ways to reduce workers' comp claims costs and premiums is to focus on returning injured workers to their pre-injury hours, rather than their pre-injury duties, according to workplace relations lawyer Kim Cunningham.
A tribunal has criticised an employer for failing to meet with a psychologically injured worker to resolve the management issues that contributed to his condition and help him return him to work.
The NSW workers' compensation scheme is being overhauled to provide safe employers with premium discounts of up to 20 per cent, restore a number of worker benefits that were scrapped in 2012, speed up the dust diseases claim process, and replace WorkCover with three separate agencies.
An employee who took nearly a year off work, after he was injured on a workplace toilet, has been denied compensation for a psychological injury he sustained during the return-to-work process.
A worker who suffered psychological injuries after being sacked because his weight posed a safety risk - to himself and other employees - was injured by reasonable management action, the Queensland IRC has ruled.
A worker who became severely physically disabled after suffering three strokes, which he claims were triggered by work-related stress, has had his workers' comp claim rejected.
