In March 2015, the Commonwealth Government introduced the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendments (Improving the Comcare Scheme) Bill 2015 (the Bill), which seeks to significantly affect the benefits and structure of the Comcare scheme.
The proposed changes will considerably broaden the scope of the current s 5A reasonable administrative action exclusion to encompass injuries suffered as a result of reasonable management action generally (including organisational or corporate restructures and operational directions).
The changes will also mean that conditions that come about because of underlying diseases will only be compensable where there is a significant contribution by employment.
The Bill proposes significant changes to the incapacity provisions of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRC Act), including the "step down" provisions, by paying 100% of the normal weekly earnings (NWE) for the first 13 weeks of incapacity (instead of the current first 45 weeks), 90% of the NWE for weeks 14 to 26 of incapacity, 80% for weeks 27 to 52 of incapacity and 70% of the NWE thereafter.
The changes will also substantially alter the compensation for permanent impairment provisions by:
- allowing separate conditions arising from one injury to be combined
- increasing the maximum amount payable for permanent impairment to $350,000, and
- excluding access to compensation for permanent impairment for secondary psychological or psychiatric conditions.
Further changes that the Government is seeking to include will:
- increase the threshold for perception- based disease claims
- set up a provisional liability scheme, where treatment expenses can be covered (up to $5,000) post notification of an injury and before a claim is determined
- allow Comcare to formulate "Clinical Framework Principles" that are to be considered when deciding whether it was reasonable for the employee to obtain medical treatment
- provide that compensation for household help will be capped and restricted for most employees, with ongoing household services only available for "severely injured" employees
- allow for the suspension of compensation payments when an injured employee is absent from Australia for non-work related purposes for more than six weeks
- allow the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to order a claimant pays the costs in certain proceedings that are dismissed under s 42B of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth), and
- provide that Comcare may prescribe a "Schedule of Legal Costs" that are payable to a successful claimant in the AAT under s 67 of the SRC Act.
The proposed changes will considerably broaden the scope of the current s 5A reasonable administrative action exclusion to encompass injuries suffered as a result of reasonable management action generally.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
