From 3 November 2009, amendments were made to the Workers'
Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 which allow claimants
for compensation to submit to the insurer a medical certificate in
the approved form given by a nurse practitioner who attended the
claimant, in circumstances where the application relates to a minor
injury and the nurse practitioner was acting in accordance with the
workers' compensation certificate protocol.
A review of WorkCover Queensland's financial position was
undertaken in November 2009. In February 2010, the Attorney-General
and Minister for Industrial Relations released a discussion paper
inviting public submissions in response to recommendations made by
the WorkCover Board and other stakeholders for maintaining the
solvency of Queensland's workers' compensation scheme. Submissions
received were reviewed by a stakeholder reference group chaired by
the Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations and
including employer associations, unions and the legal
profession.
The review resulted in amendments to the Workers'
Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 and the Workplace
Health and Safety Act 1995 which commenced on 1 July 2010.
Amendments to the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation
Act 2003 included allowing WorkCover to impose an additional
premium on an employer's policy of insurance due to sustained poor
claims experience which has resulted in the employer's premium rate
repeatedly exceeding the relevant industry rate.
Insurers now have an obligation to notify Q-COMP if an injured
worker is unable to return to work with their former employer when
their entitlement to weekly payments has stopped. Upon receiving
notification Q-COMP must, with the worker's consent, refer the
worker to programs which may help the worker return to work,
including vocational assessment, re-skilling or retraining, job
placement or host employment. This is achieved through Q-COMP's
Return to work assist program. Workers have a corresponding
obligation to satisfactorily participate in return to work programs
or suitable duties arranged by Q-COMP or an insurer, in addition to
the common law duty to mitigate their loss due to an injury.
Extensive amendments were also made to common law provisions
which are closely modelled on the Civil Liability Act
2003. These provisions include pre-trial processes, civil
liability of parties against whom a worker is seeking damages,
assessment of damages and the awarding of costs against
claimants.
To address the decision of Bourk v Power Serve Pty Ltd &
Anor [2008] QCA 225, the Workplace Health and Safety Act
1995 was amended to provide that no provision of that Act
creates a civil cause of action based on a contravention of that
provision. This amendment applies retrospectively.
In 2010, the Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial
Relations approved a structural review of the institutional and
working arrangements in the Queensland workers' compensation
scheme. The review's terms of reference included strategies to
clarify the roles and functions of Q-COMP, WorkCover and the
Department, arrangements to ensure transparency and availability of
information, improvements in claims management and common law
settlements processes, appropriateness of legal costs and
management of the legal profession, and actions to improve
rehabilitation and return to work. A report containing 51
recommendations was published in August 2010.
Amendments in the Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction Reform and
Modernisation Amendment Act 2010 resulted in the Queensland
Industrial Relations Commission becoming the sole appeal body for
appeals from the majority of Q-COMP review decisions from 1
November 2010. The Industrial Magistrates Court remains the appeal
body for appeals from decisions of
Q-COMP's board under section 107E (approving the amount payable
under an industrial instrument), Q-COMP review decisions addressing
policy and premium issues, and non-reviewable decisions by
insurers.
Commencing on 6 June 2011, amendments in the Work Health and
Safety Act 2011 provide that workers who are entitled to
compensation, including weekly payments, are entitled to take or
accrue annual leave, sick leave and long service leave during the
period to which the compensation relates. These provisions ensure
that Queensland private sector employees whose entitlements are
governed by the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cwlth) are able to
accrue leave while absent from work and in receipt of compensation
benefits.
There are also new information provisions for the building and
construction industry, whereby a principal contractor for a
construction project may ask a relevant contractor to provide its
self-insurance licence or WorkCover policy of insurance certificate
of currency. A principal contractor may also request Q-COMP or
WorkCover to provide injury data relating to relevant contractors
for a construction project.
Finally, a new provision requires the Minister for Industrial
Relations to ensure that a review of the operation of the workers'
compensation scheme is completed at least once in every 5 year
period, with a report to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly. The
first such report is due to be completed in 2013.