Super benefits can be unlocked early

It's not that well known that superannuation can be unlocked early if you are injured or ill and, as a result, unable to work.

If you meet the relevant criteria, all Superannuation schemes will release early any funds accumulated. What's more, many Super funds offer disability insurance and income protection for up to 24 months, even though you may be unaware of the benefit.

One of the major benefits of a Super claim is that, unlike TAC or WorkCover claims it does not matter how or where you were injured. It only matters whether or not you can...

Non-English speaking workers are compo casualties - Safe Work Australia Report

If English isn't your first language, chances are you are missing out on injury compensation benefits.

A recent report released by Safe Work Australia reveals that workers with non-English backgrounds are up to one third less likely to claim for benefits if injured.

According to the report, only one in three (34%) of injured workers born in a non-English speaking country apply for workers compensation. That compares to a claim rate of 45% among workers born in Australia.

While the report does not delve into the reasons behind...

The Labour Lawyer returns to his correspondence.

Dear Minister for All Things

President: Fair Work Australia

Now that the holiday season has concluded and Parliament has resumed I thought it fair to trouble you again.

As you know the Honourable Geoffrey Giudice AM President of Fair Work Australia is to soon retire after 15 years in the job. No replacement has yet been announced.

Senator Abetz has spoken of the President’s capacity as a “Judicial Officer with the demeanor to match”. Regrettably Abetz has also spoken of recent appointees to Fair Work Australia as “an endless tribe of Trade Union Officials”.

My purpose in writing is...

Fate of 41 former Community Connections staff in the balance

The fate of 41 staff sacked by the Community Connections agency (CCVL) who are owed more than $520,000 in redundancy payments will be decided by Fair Work Australia when it meets on 6 February to consider their plight.

The staff were made redundant by CCVL when the agency was stripped of its contracts to provide a range of services following two months of investigations by the Victorian Government.

Western Victorian law firm, Stringer Clark (in association with Ryan Carlisle Thomas), and the Australian Services Union have been pursuing CCVL on behalf of a...

Don't let a bumper crop turn into a grim harvest

By Michael Burdess, with thanks to Tanya Neilson

Good weather and bumper crops may also yield a bitter harvest of farm injuries for any farmer who tries to take short cuts.

WorkSafe has already rightly issued stern warnings to farmers about the increased risk they run if they try to cut corners while gathering in this season's crops.

This comes on the back of record numbers of farm injuries across country Victoria, and the alarming statistic that so far this year, half of all workplace deaths across the State have occurred on farms.

I...