Browsing: Return to work and rehabilitation | Page 6

A tribunal has affirmed a decision to suspend permanent impairment compensation to an injured worker who refused to attend a return-to-work rehabilitation program organised by his employer, finding he had no reasonable excuse for his actions.

• Controversial injury amendments have failed in NSW: McKell;
  
• Workers' comp fraudster faces jail under Crimes Act; and
  
• Premiums increase for the first time in years in Qld.

A leading occupational rehabilitation specialist has highlighted the need for personalised support plans and modified working conditions for employees suffering long-term effects from COVID-19 who want to return to work.

A WHS specialist sacked while on paid personal leave has had her unfair dismissal case thrown out by the Fair Work Commission, which rejected her claim that WHS laws blocked her from sending documents from her laptop to her employer in the absence of a return-to-work plan.

New research shows that by providing specific mental health services to workers with delayed recovery from COVID-19, recovery time decreases, return-to-work readiness improves, and employers can expect a 45 per cent reduction in time off work.

A clinical nurse has been ordered to undergo an independent medical examination after the hospital at which she worked became concerned that her epileptic seizures were a risk to patients and other staff.

Comcare's revised claims management approach has been "remarkably successful" in cutting the number of claims that go to the AAT for resolution, with matters on foot in the Tribunal dropping from more than 1,100 in 2017 to just 300 now, Comcare's acting CEO Aaron Hughes has told the Comcare National Conference.

If there is one silver lining from dealing with COVID-19, floods and fires over the past few years, it's that workers and others are now more willing to accept that their mental health can be affected and reach out for help, National Mental Health Commission CEO, Christine Morgan, has told the Comcare National Conference.

Despite the fact that an employer was negligent in the way it managed an injured worker's return-to-work plan, a superior court has confirmed this negligence wasn't the cause of her subsequent anxiety and depressive illness.

A psychologically injured worker's employer did not take unreasonable administrative action against him by declining to return him to work after an incident, but rather was acting out of concern for the welfare of his supervisor and colleagues, a tribunal has found.