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4/01/2008
News Item Workers' compo blasted A KEY report to the State Government has recommended 19 major changes to Tasmania's tough workers' compensation laws to ensure seriously injured workers are better looked after following work accidents. The long-awaited 123-page report by nationally respected actuarial expert Alan Clayton wants the maximum lump sum benefit paid after a serious workplace injury or a worker death immediately raised from $208,000 to $250,000. Mr Clayton has recommended the Government change the controversial common law limit which prevents any worker from suing their employer for negligence and damages unless they have suffered injuries assessed at more than 30 per cent "whole body impairment". This rule stops a seriously injured Tasmanian worker who has had a below-knee amputation or back surgery after a work accident from seeking common law compensation, while a worker with an arm amputation is deemed to pass the 30 per cent maimed test. Mr Clayton found this "meat chart" system was marred by big discrepancies in assessing the actual level of injury suffered by workers, depending on if the medical impairment test had been performed by either doctors acting for the worker or the employer. Instead of the arbitrary 30 per cent rule, Mr Clayton has recommended the Government introduce an alternative "narrative test", based on a system in Victoria. It would see seriously injured workers able to take common law action against employers if they have suffered a serious and permanent body impairment or loss of bodily function, serious disfigurement, severe and permanent mental disorder or lost a fetus in their workplace accident. Mr Clayton also recommended that more seriously injured workers in Tasmania receive weekly compensation benefits for longer than the 10-year limit. He would like to see workers suffering a permanent body impairment of between 15-19 per cent paid weekly statutory benefits for up to 12 years, of between 20-29 per cent impairment paid benefits for up to 20 years, and those with more than a 30 per cent impairment paid weekly benefits until reaching retirement age. The Clayton report on Tasmania's workers' compensation system was commissioned by the Government in November 2006. It followed widespread concerns that new amendments to workers' compensation laws introduced in 2000 by then-Infrastructure minister Paul Lennon had made the system too harsh. Mr Clayton delivered his findings to Tasmania's WorkCover Board in September. Questions have been asked in State Parliament during the past six months by the Liberal Opposition and the Tasmanian Greens about why the Government had not yet made the report public. source: http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23005732-3462,00.html |
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