What happens to workers when their long duration compensation claims stop?
In a study, one in 4 workers with long-duration workers compensation claims moved onto Centrelink payments after workers’ compensation benefits stopped — or 1 in 2 if their payments stopped because of changes to the law that capped their payments at 5 years. What does this mean for workers and policy makers?
In 2012, New South Wales changed section 39 of the Workers’ Compensation Act 1987 to stop workers compensation payments for injured workers after 5 years (unless they were assessed as having more than 20% permanent impairment, or were an exempt category of worker — such as police officers, fire fighters, coal miners). The first group of workers affected by the new law had their payment stopped in 2017. It’s uncommon for workers...