WHY ARE 23 MEMBERS OF THE POLICE FORCE BEING GIVEN SPECIAL
PRIVILEGES FOR COMMON LAW RIGHTS AND 4 - 5000 OTHER
INJURED WORKERS ARE NOT!!!!!!!!
The Police Journal - September 2008
Compensation at last For ‘black hole’ members
After an arduous 10-year struggle, the majority of our ‘black hole’ membershave been compensated for serious injuries sustained in the line of duty.
Consequently, members injured during this period were denied the
right to pursue compensation.
The injuries sustained by the black hole’ members are various,
encompassing the physical and psychological. Most will continue
to bear the physical and emotional scars of their injuries for a long time
to come.
23 Month period known as the ‘black hole’.
The period came about when in 1997, the Kennett Government removed the
ability of employees to sue their employers at common law for injuries arising
out of their employment.
This entitlement was reinstated by the Bracks Government in 1999, but was
not back-dated. For 23 members, this ends years of fighting for satisfactory
compensation – a process protracted by an unfair legal loop hole.
The seriously injured members who have been compensated
are part of a unique group of police who were injured between
November 1997 and October 1999
At a Police Association delegates’ conference last year, one such
member told of her experience. “I pray to God I don’t see another
colleague of mine killed in the line of duty and I have to lay there with
them and cradle his head and tell him he is going to be alright only
to find out two hours later that he has died. That is the most gutwrenching
thing I have ever come across in this job…”
For years, just compensation for the black hole members was
hamstrung by a legal quagmire, wrought by continued resistance
from the Force and the Government.
The Chief Commissioner’s public messages of fairness and support
for members rang hollow during years of unyielding negations that
continued to see our ‘black hole’ members short-changed.
While years of negotiation have finally resulted in compensation
for the majority of our ‘black hole’ members, for most, the protracted
battle for compensation only added to their pain and suffering.
In the Herald Sun last year, one injured member stated, “It just
keeps raising the question: ‘What did we do wrong and why are we
being treated this way?’ It’s having an ongoing detrimental effect on
our health and the strain on our families is incredible.”
Another stated, “The majority of the offers were grossly
inadequate…it in no way takes into consideration the six-figure
financial loss we as a family (have) accumulated as a direct result of Ms
Nixon’s own ex-gratia promises and unacceptable delays.”
Despite settlements reached on compensation for 23 of our
members, no amount of money will erase their injuries.
The lives of our ‘black hole’ members and their families will be forever
altered. Importantly, there are still six members of the black hole
group who have been denied compensation because they do not
meet the relevant criteria set out by the Force.
Another black hole for Victorians injured at work now
looms… To most, the plight of our black hole members is inconceivable.
If you are injured at work, in a physical or psychological capacity,
you expect to be fairly compensated. It is your right.
However, the rights of people who are injured at work are currently
under attack, with possible changes to legislation having the potential
to thrust all injured Victorian workers into the same black hole.
As we featured in the June edition of The Police Association Journal, and
again in this edition, through an article written by our WorkCover
lawyers, Slater & Gordon, the Victorian Government has
established a review of the Accident Compensation Act 1985, chaired by
Peter Hanks QC.
The recommendations coming out of this review threaten to further reduce
the rights of Victorians who are injured at work, with a
particular attack on those who suffer psychological/psychiatric illness.
The dangerous and confronting nature of police work that often
takes its toll on members’ physical and emotional health, means that
members are at significant risk of being disadvantaged by these
recommendations.
The issues of major concern are:
Stress
Mr Hanks has recommended that most stress claims be
taken out of the system, also recommending that psychological
and psychiatric injuries that arise from any “reasonable management
action” shouldn't count as a workplace injury.
The Victorian Trades Hall Council and the Police Association
believes that this recommendation would eliminate 90% of the 3,000
stress claims currently accepted in Victoria.
Impairment test
Further, Mr Hanks has implied that stress injuries should be
treated with a greater level of suspicion, by maintaining the
30% impairment test threshold for psychiatric injuries while keeping
the impairment threshold for most physical injuries at 10%.
Additionally, Mr. Hanks has recommended that the American
model for determining impairment be retained, meaning that if
a worker’s injuries don’t meetthe substantially more onerous
American standard, their access to a lump sum payment will be denied.
Accident Compensation Conciliation Service (ACCS)
The ACCS is the body that resolves workers compensation disputes.
Mr Hanks has recommended that its powers be reduced.
The Victorian Trades Hall Council, with the support of the Police
Association says that a reduction in the powers of the ACCS in resolving
compensation disputes will see an extra 6,000 claims clogging up the
court system – costing an extra $60 million a year and delaying the
treatment of injuries.
During the review process, a number of bodies prepared
submissions to Mr. Hanks QC. Members should be aware that
the two submissions filed by the Victoria Police Force support further
restrictions to members’ right to pursue compensation, including
broadening exclusions in the Act which would result in many more
claims for stress related illness being rejected.
The Victorian Trades Hall Council with the support of The Police
Association and other key unions are running a campaign to ensure
that the rights of injured workers are upheld.
To learn more about the campaign, visit the website -
www.fixworkcover.org
To read more about the review of the Accident Compensation Act
1985 and view submissions, visit www.compensationreview.vic.
gov.au.
The Chief Commissioner’s public messages of fairness and support for
members rang hollow during years of unyielding negations …
Reference: The Police Association Journal - September 2008
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