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What Does an Injured Worker Expect from an Employer?

When a worker is injured at the workplace, the employer has certain obligations under workers compensation legislation in Australia. However, in addition to these legal obligations, employers can do several things to ensure the best possible outcome for the worker as well as their business. A proactive approach to supporting an injured employee can help prevent discontent and consequently the employee seeking legal recourse. It can also promote a return to work as promptly as possible.

Reasonable Expectations for Injured Employees

Employers in Australia are required to have workers compensation insurance. They must inform their employees about the legislation and educate them on how to make a claim if they are injured. Businesses are required to document a return to work plan describing the steps that need to be taken if a worker is injured. Employers must maintain a record of work-related injuries and notify the workers’ compensation insurer within 48 hours of an injury occurring. When a worker is injured, employers should participate in the injury management plan as outlined by the insurer. They should also provide suitable work upon return to work that is the same or equivalent to the work that was being done at the time of injury. These are not only reasonable expectations for workers but also legal requirements.

Ensuring Injured Workers Feel Supported

Besides legal requirements and reasonable expectations, offering support at the time of injury and throughout the recovery process can help make injured workers feel cared for. This will have a positive impact on the worker’s response to their injury, thereby reducing the chances of them taking legal action against the employer.

If a worker has been injured during the course of their employment duties, an employer can take the following steps to help the injured worker feel supported.

Avoid blaming the injured worker. This can be alienating and may prompt the worker to seek legal help. Rather, explore ways to improve safety and prevent such injuries in the future. Focus on helping the injured worker recover. This promotes a sense of kinship and fosters loyalty towards the employer.

A work injury can be isolating. Injured workers often feel like everyone at work has forgotten about them. These feelings can progress into anger or resentment and push an injured worker towards legal recourse against the employer. A good way to avoid this is by encouraging co-workers to stay in touch with an injured worker and keep them up-to-date on what’s going on at work. Such considerate behaviour from the employer and co-workers sends a positive message and can help speed up recovery and return to work.

Employers may be tempted to focus on a worker’s injury and recovery and sweep other unresolved issues under the carpet, such as conflicts with co-workers or transportation difficulties. However, if these issues are not addressed, they can become barriers that prevent an injured worker from returning to work. Dissatisfied workers are more likely to take legal action against an employer than workers whose issues are addressed proactively.

Last but not least, it’s important to have open communication with an injured worker. Employers should advise injured workers of everything they will do to aid their recovery. At the same time, employers should also advise an injured worker of their obligations. This helps set reasonable expectations on both sides and ensures both parties are equally involved in the recovery process.

References:

https://www.sira.nsw.gov.au/resources-library/workers-compensation-resources/publications/workers-compensation-policies/workers-compensation-guide-for-employers

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has spread all over the world, including more than 29,000 cases and close to 1,000 deaths in Australia. The pandemic has had a deep impact on the physical and mental health of workers across industries due to job losses, the need to adapt to the new normal, and a fear of contracting the virus. The impact has been especially severe on employees who work in high-risk environments, such as healthcare workers.

What does COVID mean for organisations in terms of liability if an employee contracts the virus? Can healthcare workers who catch coronavirus at the workplace claim compensation from their employer? What can organizations do to keep staff safe and reduce their liability?

Is the Organisation Liable if a Worker Contracts Coronavirus?

The coronavirus pandemic has placed organisations in a catch-22 situation. Life needs to carry on and businesses need to reopen. Yet, returning to the workplace puts employees at risk of contracting COVID. If an employee contracts coronavirus while at work, who is responsible?

There are two scenarios here – the first is when an employee catches the virus at the workplace. In this situation, if it can be demonstrated that the employer failed to provide a safe working environment, they can, in theory, be held liable and may invite penalties under the OHS Act. In such cases, the employee may be entitled to workers compensation because the illness will be considered work-related.

An interesting situation is when the nature of a person’s work puts them at increased risk of COVID, for example, healthcare workers. SafeWork Australia says this is a grey area and it is unclear whether healthcare workers would be eligible for compensation if they get COVID. The key factor that will be taken into consideration will be whether the employer followed all government guidelines to make the workplace safe.

If an employee contracts COVID outside the workplace, they would not be eligible for compensation because the disease was a result of something that isn’t work-related. This includes catching the virus at a medical appointment for previous work-related injuries. However, there is ambiguity about compensation if an employee catches the virus while taking public transport to and from work. The employer will, however, be liable for other workers who contract the virus from an employee who brought the infection into the workplace.

Reducing Organisational Liability and Risks for Healthcare Workers

As noted, healthcare workers are at particularly high risk for contracting COVID-19. In healthcare and other industries, employers can take the following steps to reduce their liability and improve worker safety.

Provide a hygienic work environment including clean washrooms with adequate supplies of soap, water, and paper towels, as well as hand sanitizer throughout the workplace.

Ensure physical distancing, including rearranging cubicles and desks, to maintain at least 1.5 metres distance between employees.

Perform regular cleaning and deep sanitisation of the workplace.

Educate and train staff about best practices to reduce the spread of COVID.

Monitor the health of workers as far as reasonably practical.

Encourage workers who are feeling unwell to stay home. Encourage self-reporting and remove barriers or disincentives to reporting COVID positivity.

Ensure co-workers are not exposed to known positive cases through contact tracing.

Long-Term Impact of Covid on WorkCover Liability

The true impact of COVID-19 will become evident in the coming months and years. However, COVID is likely to be considered a disease under workers’ compensation laws in the various Australian territories and states. For a COVID infection to be compensable, an employee will need to demonstrate that they contracted the disease and that the disease arose from the course of their employment.

The key factor will be establishing a connection between the performance of their job and the contraction of COVID-19. However, due to the nature of the virus, it may be impossible in many cases to prove that a person’s employment was the main contributing factor and that the infection did not occur in some other setting. Nonetheless, employers will be held liable if they are found negligent and the employee suffers long-term consequences from COVID.

References:

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Medico-legal cases are rarely clear cut. Lawyers often have to collect and sift through huge volumes of complicated information, including lengthy medical records and expert opinions, before they can even advise a client whether they have a strong case. Even when the client’s case is strong, opposing medical opinions are undoubtedly presented in court and must be challenged. To give clients the best chance of success and improve settlement rates, it is important for lawyers fighting these cases to have efficient processes in place, including obtaining a good medico-legal report. In this article, we talk about some of the most common challenges attorneys and law firms face in obtaining a strong medico-legal report.

What is a Good Medico-Legal Report?

A medico-legal report is the case history of a person’s medical care, requested by an attorney, insurer, or law enforcement agency. It is viewed by a diverse, non-medical audience and used as evidence in court. A medico-legal report is subjected to close scrutiny, and therefore, must be prepared with extreme care.

A good medico-legal report relies on medical facts present in the records and not on the treating physician’s memory. These medical facts are presented in chronological order and include the presenting history, examination, investigations, diagnosis, treatment, and the patient’s current condition. It also includes the report writer’s expert medical opinion about the standard of care offered to the patient.

For a medico-legal report to withstand scrutiny in court, it should be honest and accurate, it should contain verified information, and it should not omit any relevant information. The documents should be prepared in a reasonable timeframe. Attorneys who need medico-legal reports for their clients often face difficulties in obtaining these reports.

Common Difficulties in Obtaining a Good Medico-Legal Opinion

Several road blocks prevent attorneys from obtaining strong medico-legal opinions. The first and most important one is finding medical experts who can explain all the material facts of the case and give their qualified opinion. Each opinion expressed in the medico-legal report must be supported by a reason. If any question is not within the report writer’s area of expertise, it needs to be stated as such. The opinion expressed in the medico-legal report must be referenced to medical literature and other supporting material. It is worth noting that the opinions expressed in the medico-legal report are often challenged and tested in court. For the report to stand up to scrutiny, it’s important to have real experts who have considerable experience in their field and can withstand cross-examination.

Obtaining Medical Records

Australian health services can deny access to medical records on several grounds, including the plea that such information would pose a serious threat to the life or health of an individual. What’s more, even when medical records are available, they are often complicated and voluminous, which can make it challenging to collect and organize relevant information that demonstrates negligence. Reviewing and retrieving medical records and wading through them to draft summaries can take up a fair amount of time – something attorneys preparing for litigation don’t always have.

Preparing a Timely Medico-Legal Report

One of the key challenges for law firms fighting medico-legal cases is preparing a report in a timely manner. This is a time-consuming exercise that requires significant expertise. Attorneys representing patients in medico-legal cases must prepare a strong report to ensure success and higher settlements. As noted, a good medicolegal report includes a thorough review of the patient’s medical records in chronological order, expert medical opinions, narrative summaries, synopsis of medical care, medication charts, and billing information. All this must be completed in a reasonable timeframe for the report to support the case.

Assessing Damages in Medical Malpractice Cases

One of the biggest challenges in winning a medico-legal case is assessing damages. A patient fighting a medico-legal case is almost always suffering from a medical condition. Sometimes, negligence is alleged. Therefore, lawyers representing the patient must prove that the patient’s medical problems are a result of negligence. Only then will it lead to adequate compensation. A strong medico-legal report can support the patient’s case when there is an allegation of negligence. However, to accomplish this, the report must be prepared carefully with expert opinions to support the claim.

Getting Expert Opinions in Medico-Legal Cases

Almost every medico-legal case requires supportive evidence from credible, independent medical experts. The defendants, i.e., practitioners and health care systems, often present opposing professional opinions that support them. It can be challenging for attorneys fighting medico-legal cases to find experts who are willing to become involved in litigation and side with the patient. A big challenge in these cases is finding medical experts who have enough experience to be taken seriously in court. Besides, even when available, their services can be quite expensive, unless they have tied up with an advisory firm.

Benefits of Medicolegal Advisory Firms

A medicolegal advisory firm can help attorneys fighting medico-legal cases give their clients the best chance of success. The advantages of hiring a medico-legal consultancy include:

Expertise in retrieving medical records, assembling them in chronological order, reviewing the records for relevant information, and summarizing medical reports.
Providing a compelling narrative summary of the patient’s care to highlight the main points of the case.
Identifying critical medical issues that need to be clarified.
Conducting detailed searches of medical literature to support the client’s case.
Obtaining expert opinions from a panel of independent physicians from various medical specialties.
Improving settlement rates through fact-based medical documentation.
Providing expert opinions at affordable costs.
Reducing litigation costs through screening of cases.
Preparing medico-legal reports in a reasonable timeframe.

If you are an attorney representing a client who needs a medico-legal report to present in court, hiring our medicolegal advisory firm in Australia will allow you to focus on important case-related matters such as demonstrating liability, causation, and damages, while we take care of preparing the report. This will not only help you achieve cost efficiency but will also save you a significant amount of time. We adhere to the highest levels of confidentiality and security to protect your client’s privacy and medical records.

Allow our highly trained staff to help you save time, money, and effort by preparing a medicolegal report for your client. Call us today to learn more about how we can benefit your law firm.

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