The Federal Government moved to reduce workers compensation entitlements when it introduced the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 into Federal Parliament, 31 November 2006. The Federal Government has sought to cut the number of Commonwealth workers eligible for compensation by introducing a raft of amendments.
These changes will have implications for the many thousands of workers who were previously covered by State or Territory workers' compensation legislation, but will now come under the Commonwealth scheme because their companies have gained self-insurer status under Comcare.
Introducing the Bill, the then-IR Minister, Kevin Andrews, said the Commonwealth scheme had come under 'growing pressure' in recent years from increasing number of claims, longer average claim duration and higher claim costs.
The following information sets out current and future rights and entitlements under the Commonwealth scheme.
Eligibility
|
Current |
Future |
|
Eligibility criteria |
|
|
Causative requirements |
|
|
SRC Act requires ‘a material contribution’ by employment to a disease |
Require that employment must have contributed ‘in a significant way to contraction or aggravation of injury |
|
|
Definition of ‘disease’ and ‘injury’ to be tightened |
|
Excluded matters expanded |
|
|
‘reasonable disciplinary action’ currently excluded from eligibility |
To be expanded to include:
|
|
Lunch break, journey claims |
|
|
Coverage for injuries includes that which have arisen out of, or in the course of, employment |
Injuries sustained by employees to be excluded during journeys:
|
|
Entitlements |
|
|
|
Changes to retirees incapacity benefits by:
|
|
|
Increase maximum funeral benefits payable under SRC Act and Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act |
Claims Process
|
Current |
Future |
|
|
No time limit by which employer must accept or reject claim for compensation |
Comparison with other jurisdictions
Upfront payments by Comcare of weekly benefits are generally quite reasonable. However, payments for permanent impairment and serious injury don’t compare well with many State jurisdictions.
Case Study: A worker received $1,000/week pay, has a spouse and no children. In a workplace incident the thumb and forefinger of the right hand were severed and lost. The worker returned to full time work 6 weeks after the injury.
|
Comparable Payments[1] |
|
|
Comcare |
$66,000 |
|
NSW |
$114,000 |
|
Vic |
$107,000 |
|
QLD |
$79,000 |
|
WA |
$79,000 |
|
SA |
$70,000 |
|
Tas |
$87,000 |
|
NT |
$66,000 |
|
ACT |
$59,000* |
Further lobbying is taking place with the Federal government regarding weekly payments. The AiGroup has put this on the record:
“The current Comcare benefit structure of 45 weeks full pay, followed by 45 weeks on half pay does not meet the principles AiGroup has defined in this area. Twelves weeks is appropriate.”[2}
More information:
Download a current brochure from the ACTU at the bottom of this page.
[1]Approximate amounts only. Source: Comparative Performance Monitoring Seventh Report November 2005
[2]AiGroup submission to the Productivity Commission, 2004
[2]AiGroup submission to the Productivity Commission, 2004