As national employers shake out staff, bullying is on the rise

Comcare lawyer, Angela Sdrinis, analyses the fallout from a recent stress injury ruling.

Banks continue to announce big staff layoffs, with some commentators including the head of the Finance Sector Union, Leon Carter, predicting job losses totalling 10,000 over the next 18 months. At the same time, Telstra and Australia Post continue to shed workers more quietly but in large numbers. And if Tony Abbott gets in, numbers in the Commonwealth public service are likely to be slashed.

In my experience as a Comcare expert, management doesn't reach those...

Comcare's new compo guide finally released

Comcare, the Commonwealth Government's workers compensation scheme, has finally released its new draft guidelines, having had its previous guidelines challenged and overruled by the Federal Court.

The guidelines contain tables under which compensation entitlements are determined.

The discredited guide was found to be inconsistent with legislation that entitles all workers to financial compensation for any injury that leads to a permanent impairment level of 10% or more.

Comcare initially made a commitment to replace the dodgy guidelines with new ones by July this year. Then the deadline slipped to October. The agency has now prepared a new guide,...

Comcare is short changing workers by up to $35,000

Last year, the Federal Court found that the Federal Government's workers compensation fund, Comcare, had breached the relevant legislation in trying to short change workers on their 10% permanent impairment payouts.

Comcare is the Federal Government equivalent of WorkSafe in Victoria, and is the fund under which all Commonwealth public servants and the workers of some large national companies are covered for workplace injury.

Keen to cut the amount of money being paid to injured workers by the government and employers, especially workers suffering from musculoskeletal injuries, the Howard Government in 2006 tried to...