New Accident Compensation Act
Last week the Accident Compensation Act Amendment Bill reached Victorian Parliament. This bill has a number of changes to the current Act.
Workers will receive 80% of their pre-injury wage after 13 weeks (up from 75%) and penalties and overtime count in the pre-injury wage for 52 weeks, not the current 26 weeks.
Workers who receive weekly compensation for more than 52 weeks will also have superannuation paid at 9% after 52 weeks.
WorkSafe Inspectors will have wider powers in the area of return to work including the ability to issue improvement notices to employers who do not offer alternative employment for 52 weeks.
Workers may have their weekly payments suspended if they do not participate in the return to work process. For the first time a worker must actively participate with occupational rehabilitation (OR) providers, while employers can be directed to use the services of OR providers if the Agent notifies them to do so.
There are a large number of other changes that will become more evident over time.
Nabenet believe that the changes above and other amendments to the Act make return to work the key to the Workers Compensation system for the first time.
The role of Nabenet as your OR provider can only assist Employers meet their increased obligations to the return to work process and assist workers to return to work when medically safe to do so.
