Shortly Nurse Uncut will be doing a series on Workplace Compensation and Workplace Injuries.
We will discuss nurse’s rights, their experiences, what they are covered for, and how much they know about workplace compensation.
We will also be getting some advice from the union and a workplace compensation expert.
• How and why nurses should be covered and what happens if they are not?
• What are the individuals responsibilities and what should be covered by the employer/hospital?
• Are there different regulations for independent midwives?
• If a claim is not covered by Work Cover then what they can do?
Do you have any questions you want answered? If so, now is the time to ask.
We would also love to talk to nurses about their experiences – if anyone has anything they want to share, please email us at admin@nurseuncut.com.au
Image credit: Safe Work Australia
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I had a fairly severe workplace injury about 8 years ago which has now left me unable to work. I have been treated very well by my employer, NSCCH and the GIO. However, something needs to be done about the the 6 month rule ie. that you get full pay for 6 months and then the statutary payment thereafter which is about equal to the old age pension. It is farcical considering that the injury was caused by a workplace failure. I certainly did have to struggle along at work for a long time with the injury as I couldn’t afford to live on the Compensation payment. I just have to grin and bere it now as I can’t work. Perhaps the association coulkd look into this!
Work place injury has no time limit, providing you have lodged a claim with the employers insurer.
There is such a thing as “exacerbation and aggravation” of original injury.
You should have been paid full wages for the first 6 months and then 80% for the next 26 weeks, or par there of.
You really need to consult a Lawyer. What does your MRI say ?. Get a second opinion from an independent Neuro Surgeon, and tell them that it is a workers compensation matter, you can pay for this and claim it later. You do not have to have your employers doctors treat you. Employers and Insurers have a serious conflict of interest, and its not really your interest they have in mind.
Workers compensation Matters , you will have to do a LOT of the work involved in you own matter.
Become familiar with the Workers compensation Legislation ASAP.
Work Cover will help to a degree, but they also have an invested interested into sloughing you off as best they can.
Some Insurers will break every rule in the book and Law,over and over again. Because Nurses ignorance and lack of tenacity to stick to the process of their injury ALLOWS them to get away with it.
So get cracking
ATTENTION ALL NURSES :
I would like to know how many nurses have sustained a work place injury
what was the Injury ?
how it affected you Personally
Did you recover, Fully ?
who helped you recover ?
what hardship did the injury cause you.
Are you still able to work as a Nurse ?
was the Nurses union helpful ?.
One of my former jobs, was as an OH&S nurse in a large factory ( 1996 ).
Things may have changed, but this is what I would of thought ‘should ‘ have happened…..
Injury occurs. First aid ( FA ) provided. FA notification to employer completed. Employer ( via Rehab provider ) contacts Insurance Company.
You have a choice of ‘ Company doctor ‘ or your own…. anything up to FIVE separate opinions. Each and every acoount / bill MUST be under the provisions of Workers’ Compensation ( WC ) ( not Medicare ) Some doctors will tell you straight out ” Sorry, I don’t do WC, as it takes too long for the Govt. to pay me “.
If injury was so severe, that you needed five days off work ( from time of injury ), then WorkCover must investigate, and employer may be prosecuted, fined etc.
If less than five days ( and some employers may ‘ push ‘ you to get back to work quickly, to avoid a five day period, then you may aggrevate your injury, and the employer can claim later, that you are responsible with a contributary negligence. That means LESS of a payout, should it go that far.
So, you’re off work. The company Rehab Provider ( RP ) should contact you at home, and keep an eye on your ‘ welfare ‘. The RP should ask you about which doctor you have elected to be treated by ( and more than one is OK ). The RP should arrange to pay all your medical ( and other treatment accounts ). This may include physio; chiro; hydrotherapy; medications, even household aides, such as the instillation of a hand rail in your bathroom / toilet !!
( unfortunately, should you actually receive a payout, you will have to pay back ALL of the cost of treatments / aides you received. Eg. $5,000. worth of treatments. $5,000. taken of a $10,000. payout, means you only get the $5,000. left over )
During the first 26 week period, your progress is monitored. They will make confidential notes on your progress. Believe it or not, you may even be under covert surveillence from Insurance Company private investigators. This is only if they consider you are attempting to delay your recovery by some form of deliberate aggrevation of your injury. Eg. you keep playing football on weekends, or you mow the lawn at home every week etc. etc.
Your RP should draw up a plan of ‘ Retun to Work ‘ ( RTW ) for you as an individual. Each person will need their own specialised plan.
It starts with a two hour RTW period of what is now termed ‘ selected duties ‘. You may not be doing your ordinary Nursing role. You may be assigned to a ward clerk type role, for example, to ensure no lifting etc.
From two houre to to fours, if all is going well. 4 to 6. 6 to 8.
If after the 26 week period has been reached, should you not been assessed as being able to return to your full eight hour ( or even ten hour ) shift, then this now becomes a problem.
There are a number of options available to the employer.
The employer can offer you another position, which you agree with, such as remaining as a ward clerk. However, the employer must go to all reasonable lengths, to explore all possible options of KEEPING you as an employee of that company / department / hospital etc. That can mean retraining at employer expense.
Now here’s the crunch…..
If after all options have been explored, and even with retraining, the employer ( usually after a psych. consult ) finds that there are no options for ongoing employment for you…… you are then entitled to compensation for the loss of your job.
Now, this is the really bad bit…..
It can take years. You will be entitled to something like up to 80% of your former NON PENALTY RATE pay, until the matter gets to Court.
My father waited over eight years ( he actually died before his case got to Court, and we lost his entitlement – but that was pre 1987, when the new Act came in )
I also know of a good friend of mine, who was ‘ quickly ‘ offered a mere $8,000. for a severe back injury ( Hospital Security, and bashed by a psych. patient ). Due to his lack of finances to hold out for a better offer, he accepted the offer.
That money went quickly on medical treatments, and within a two year period, he was placed on a Disability Support Pension ( DSP ), and will never work again !! ( became morbidly obese and on antidepressants etc. )
So, after all that, my advice is….. do not let your situation go beyond 26 weeks, without pushing your RP to get you back to work ( in your same job ). After 26 weeks, your rights deteriorate rapidly. You become a liability to the employer, and they will try everything that is legal to get rid of you.
By all means, seek professional legal advice. My experiences are a few years old now, and I certainly hope people are not treated as they once were.
Regards & Good luck….
Note you can change rehab providers as well as GPs during your case. Not all rehab providers (especially one employed by insurance company) are decent and looking out for your best interests.”Injury Treatment” should be avoided at all costs they will do you over.This is a very poor rehab provider and one that TMF/EML gives everyone in public sector. They are working for the insurer not for your interests. I and everyone else I know who has dealt with them have the same bad opinion of them. Anyone wanting further info about this aspect contact me at foxylass@y7mail.com
Nobody in nursing gets assigned ‘clerk roles’ as suitable duties. If you can’t do some work i.e minding patients;giving meds ,checking resus trolleys ;writing policies then the hospital moves to sack the employee. Avoid the antidepressants on offer they will disable you further and give the insurer a “psychiatric” ground to over throw your case. DO not submit to any psychiatric examinations that insurers claim you must attend. They cannot force this upon you. They threaten cessation of payments. This is why you need to try to work at least 20hrs/wk if at all possible and get a law firm involved. Email me at foxylass@y7mail.com for further info.
What is said about been made to have a Psychiatric assessment is not always done by a psychiatrist. This assessment is often discussed under an S40 assessment by the Rehab provider psychologist of a Councilor for RTW.( very sneaky ) You have been led into a FALSE sense of security , As Your loosing your income & Career and feel you are talking to someone whom you feel, understands, But this is CRAP.
The REPORT that they will write about you, will contain everything you say and more ( so much for confidential ) There is no such thing as Confidential or Independent in workers Injury management of Compensation.
My ATO “tax file number”, along with full banking details, my work history , Nurses rego Number & Drivers license , Bank account & copy of my personal signature, were all sent out on a single page to numerous doctors ,physios and rehab Providers. So will the “Psychiatric of Psychologist REPORT” they write about you. This report will also be sent to your Nurse manager, employer and will remain on your file for life.
Beware, as Foxylass says.
You will never have any Privacy as the Insurer will indeed ensure that , for ever!
Foxylass, Your comment that…Nobody in Nursing gets assigned clerk roles..is not right. Since my injury I have been assigned several clerical roles. Unfortunatly when it came time to “get the Job” as mine was deleted, I was told that I was not qualified.
The workers compensation Act 1987 NSW and the Workplace injury Management & workers compensation Act 1998, NSW are now the two laws that Employers, Insurers & injured workers use to attend to your entitlements to work place injury Management and Compensation .This is for NSW, other states differ. There is also COMCARE for some employes’s
Its always a good idea to down load these two documents from WORK Cover.
As for this statement below
” It can take years. You will be entitled to something like up to 80% of your former NON PENALTY RATE pay, until the matter gets to Court.”
This is no longer the case. You will only be entitled to 100% of your full pay for the first 26 weeks post injury. Only if you are Not able to work in some or any capacity.
That amount only applies if you have an employment CONTRACT “Of” SERVICE ‘. Nurses employed in Hospitals usually have this, and you are covered by an award and are Deemed a WORKER , therefore entitled to workers compensation.
Nursing Contracts “FOR SERVICE”, you are NOT COVERED by work Cover or workers compensation at
all.Because you are SELF employed, deemed NOT a Worker. These type of jobs are like Nurse practitioners as in Midwives, and or possibly Nurses who work under an ABN.( the latter is a legal debate )
After the first 26 week shas elapsed and you still have not returned to work, you are then moved to S38 or S40 payments. S38 is 80% of your wages for 26 weeks. S40 is a little more complex.
So you are entitled to 52 weeks wages before you go on to what is called “Statutory rare” which today is $406/ week, if your lucky and the Insurer has not sent you a S74 or S54 Notice declining extended or limiting liability. The statutory rate will generally be limited to a year or so before it too will be cease.
Then you will be at the mercy of Centre Link. New Start allowance of some $230/week. or the Disability support pension of $706 /fortnight,Plus all the other benefits.
If your Injury has deteriorated ,even long after settlement, you still can resubmit a “new claim” , upping the % of permanent impairment and to cover all Medical expenses. These should be paid for by the Insurer.Medical expenses should not be deducted from your settlement. I do believe this was illegal. Nor do you usually have to pay for any legal costs involved.
However Doctors Reports is your expense, this is where the NSW Nurses Association my help you, as these costs are also claimable at the end of the day, and the insurer also has to pay for them.
WARNING : Agency nurses will automatically loose 20% of their wages in the first 26 weeks of workers compensation. There is seldom Suitable duties available for the Agency Nurse while recovering.
After the first 26 week the Agency nurse will automatically loose another 20% of the wages, bringing the total loss to 40%. Because of the S38 payments kick in at this point.
You will only be paid for a total of 52 weeks, IF you are lucky.
WARNING to Self employed Nurses and or Nurses working under an ABN for a company.”
These nurses are regarded as a self employed person and are therefore NOT deemed a “worker”.
Only a “worker” is entitled to workers Compensation. So these nurses will need income protection for injury.
FYI look up “Contract of Service ” and “Contract Of Service” such a little word as “OF & For” can make a very big difference to your life, when it comes to workplace injury.
You are paid full wages for six months then placed on statutory rate after that. Statutory rate = $274 pw after tax if you are not working at all. If you do work some hours then a threshold is applied to each week/fortnight wage as to whether you are paid any or all of statutory rate.
If you are injured DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM MAKING A CLAIM. You lose bigtime if you do that. Your employer and their nasty insurance company will ruin your life private and working.
Don’t pay for a lawyer or go with the NSWNA’s preference. If I had gone with NSWNA’s recommended law firm I would have lost my case and been unemployable. That firm goes for the path of least resistance = no compensation to you and no ongoing care should you need it until the day you retire. Anyone interested in a a law form who cost nothing and will take Zero money from your compensation email me at foxylass@y7mail.com and I will give you the name and number of two law firms who do this type of representation. It is not “no win no pay” it is you pay nothing whether you win or lose.
Agency nurses really need to take out injury & sickness insurance to avoid going under. Our present system would see them drown rapidly faster than public employees. Private employees get a really raw deal as the bean counters rope in cost. I was on stat rate for 18 months despite working full-time it does go on for as long as necessary if you lodge a claim. The insurance company pays for my medical visits,medications and any time off work due to increased levels of pain for the rest of my days.
I look at this state ment
“Don’t pay for a lawyer or go with the NSWNA’s preference. If I had gone with NSWNA’s recommended law firm I would have lost my case and been unemployable. That firm goes for the path of least resistance = no compensation to you and no ongoing care should you need it until the day you retire. ”
How true of the NSW Nurses Association lawyers. I am stuck with them now, but I am making them work.
I have put together my own fight , and a big one.
I wrote a response to the Factual investigators report & witness statements.It took 65 pages of errors of items that were False and Misleading evidence produced and conjured up by the Investigator.
I crossed reference page by page , paragraph by paragraph and line by line of the investigators report.
This bloke even presented my my statement, he alleges I made to him into his report , after giving both my Lawyer and my self his word ( in writing ) that he would not release my statement until both my lawyer and my self had corrected and approved it. Which never happened before he release it.
The amazing fact is that the Private investigator took full Authorship of my statement, as he dictated it to he secretary. I just sat there, waiting to see how far this man would go. He must have really thought I was stupid. I wrote my own statement, in my Factual words.
However after my matter goes before the commission. I will send this his report along with my 65 page response to the Ombudsman for the NSW police commissioner to decide on his fate.
Funny , but I reported step by step all what I was been put through by the Self Insurer/Employer and her cohorts, and yet the NSWNA did NOTHING just referred me to their lawyers , who also did NOTHING.
but I intend to make them work for my Union fees over 40 years.
Will keep you posted.
This is an interesting debate here…
It seems most respondants have had some sort of personal experience, which allows them to comment.
I appreciate that things have obviously changed over the years, but I have had a relative or two who has experienced the ‘ system ‘.
My brother in law was riding his motorcycle to work. All he can remember, is stopping at a set of red lights. Witnesses claim, a car struck him from behind, and his bike was pushed into the sideflow traffic. He sustained fractures to both arms, and was laid out in hospital for several weeks.
He wound up on the 26 week gig.
He had always been employed as a shift worker, yet his compo payments were at a flat day shift rate.
at the end of the 26 weeks, he was offered ‘ selected duties ‘ in an office environment.
Basically, he lost thousands in lost penalty rates, and he will not get a pay out because his employer paid the lesser insurance PREMIUM, so that employees were not covered travelling to and from work !!
Now that’s something we should all ask about…. if you have an accident on the way to / from work – will you be fully covered under WC ??
Nearlyleft.
listen & learn my dear.
Pass this on to other Nurses.
Get private Income insurance and check out your superannuation pay out for permanent disability injury,insurance. The benefits are amazing,especially for younger workers. However the super schemes keeps this fairly quiet. Under some schemes, You automatically get 2 to 3 time your super pay out, if you are totally & Permanently incapacitated from employment.This is on top of your workers copensation pay out.
Mind you this does not compensate you for loss of living capacity & pain etc, but it can help pay the bills.
I was injured at work. I was on a flat rate of pay for 18 months then stood down for three months after an underhanded move by my employer to go after my registration to “get rid of me”. I was almost bankrupt and homeless then my compensation payment came through and saved me. When you are forced onto morning shifts and never given weekends your pay resembles a first year RN’s wage. I also had to pay $16/day for parking on top of an extremely reduced wage. If I had have wimped out and walked away then I would have ended up homeless and unemployable unless I worked for $10ph under Nova Employment.
I’m not saying it isn’t difficult and very daunting but deciding not to lodge a claim at all means the employer and insurer smile all the way to the bank and totally dodge caring for your ongoing health needs. The money would buy a small car but if you deteriorate in the future you cannot claim then unless you claimed in the first place. That is the point of the claim the money is negligible.
For years, I was always a ‘ casual ‘ or an ‘ agency ‘ Nurse.
I bounced around in many short term jobs for over 15 years.
You have very few ‘ rights ‘ ( if any ) as anything LESS than a full time employee.
I’m glad I’m now in a ‘ secure ‘ full time position, and I’ll think very hard about leaving voluntary, given my past experience in the Nursing workforce.
Every employee should enquire about their employer’s insurance company, and do some research on the company’s history of how they treat their employees.
The very worst case scenarios are seen on the six o’clock news…….
‘ Former employee goes on shooting rampage. Kills boss ( etc. etc. ) ‘
I just wish managers would consider how they treat people, especially the hypocrites who claim to be Nurse Managers in Mental Health !!!
I was very lucky
when I had to go to center link for a “Job capacity assessment” JKA. I met with an assessor who was a Nurse in the Army , who sustained a Back injury, a crippling one.
One of the first few thing she said to me was ” How many time have you been accused of FRAUD by the Insurer ?” with this I burst into tears. It takes a lot to make me Cry. But she was right. this Nurse assessor had been through it all herself with the Australian ARMY.
She made an immediate recommendation foe a DSP or disability support pension, which pays a lot more than New start allowance.
My Insurer insisted I apply for 10 employment positions per week. With full document proof of application.Even then it was not good enough for the Insurer. Iapplied for over 800 possitions.
Centre Link only ask for 3 / week. for 3 months before DSP can be applied for.
You cannot make an employer employ you.
I also found it hard to understand how my employer/nursing Agency/Insurer , one of the biggest labor hire agencies in Australia could not find me suitable duties or work of any kind, yet expected me to be fully employed by some other employer/ agency /hospital. With all my ongoing injury needs and surgical treatment pending.
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Hi have just come across your website and prompted to leave a comment. I’ve been on workers comp since July 2011after a C6/7 prolapsed disc and nerve inpingement. Have had surgery 6wks ago and just beginning the process of exercise and vocational rehab as I cant return to my pre injury job on the ward. I dont have a problem with payments as its continued on the same level since the injury but worried that if I start a new job and find it doesnt work out, where do I then stand as far as compensation goes. So far I havnt contacted a lawyer. Any advice please?