WorkCover at fault over spinal injury payments

Workstream News – December 2006

HUNDREDS of injured workers could be owed millions of dollars after a
court case found the State Government had for nearly a decade been using
an incorrect method to judge lump-sum payments for back injuries.
Workforce Legal principal Paul Mulvany estimated WorkCover and the
Transport Accident Commission could now face a liability of between
$10 million and $20 million, which could affect more than 1000 workers
with spinal injuries.

The Supreme Court ruled on a case involving Wodonga furniture worker
Paul Taylor, who fractured his neck in November 1997 while driving a
truck in the course of his employment with Mountain Pine Furniture.
He had a spinal fusion and made a good recovery.

Justice Bernard Bongiorno found the WorkCover doctors should have
ignored the effect of surgery when assessing Mr Taylor’s permanent
impairment. A medical assessment panel found he had a whole person
impairment of 26 per cent before surgery, and 16 per cent after.

His lawyer, John Binnie of Belbridge Hague in Albury, said this meant
that Mr Taylor should have been offered a lump-sum compensation
payment of $37,000 rather than the $17,000 he was offered. The case
has been sent back to the medical panel for redetermination.Mr Binnie
said Mr Taylor had been short-changed and pursued what amounted
to a test case in the interest of other affected workers.

Mr Mulvany accused WorkCover and the TAC of “peddling” a particular
interpretation of the assessment rules to doctors that gave the least
favourable outcome to claimants. He said the State Government was
“morally bound” to reassess the claims and compensate workers.
A spokesman for WorkCover Minister Tim Holding said the authority
was likely to appeal the decision.

Trades Hall WorkCover Officer Jarrod Moran said the Kennett government
was warned in 1997 that the assessment guides would “swindle”
workers with spinal injuries.