New stress bill angers unions, pleases business

The Age
Written by: Melissa Fyfe

December 20, 2009

MOST stress-related workers' compensation claims will be blocked by a State
Government crackdown that has angered unions but has been welcomed by business.

In a bill introduced to Parliament, the Government bowed to pressure from
business, the Victoria Police and the Victorian Farmers Federation,
significantly curbing workers' ability to claim stress-related injuries
caused by management actions.

Unions claim the change will knock out 80 per cent of about 2700
WorkCover claims lodged by stressed Victorians each year.

Under the new Accident Compensation Amendment Bill, workers cannot
claim stress or mental injury for any management action ''taken on reasonable
grounds and in a reasonable manner''.

This is a significant shift from the existing law, which exempts a narrow
range of actions such as demotion, transfer, discipline and retrenchment.

The new bill goes further and specifically rules out stress illnesses caused
by performance appraisals, counselling, investigations, or being stood down
or suspended. The move has angered unions, which say the changes are much
worse than the Kennett Government's controversial reform to workplace stress
claims in 1992. ''This is really WorkChoices for injured workers,'' said
Geoff Lewin, the Community and Public Sector Union's WorkCover director
in Victoria.

''Labor has abandoned its working class principles and savaged the rights
of injured workers.''

Stress-related injuries, which make up 9 per cent of all Victorian WorkCover
claims, are often highly contentious, with 40 per cent initially rejected.

In 2005-2006, WorkCover paid $134 million to Victorians suffering stress-related
injuries from work. In the State Government's recent review of accident
compensation, Peter Hanks, QC, found that while the proportion of stress claims
was stabilising, Victoria had some of the nation's highest rates of stress-claims.

Stress-injury claims were also the most expensive type of accident compensation
and kept people away from work for longer than physical injuries, he found.

According to WorkCover figures, about a quarter of stress claims originate in the
public and community sector. The new changes put Victoria's accident
compensation laws on a par with the toughest in the nation, including Queensland's
scheme and the Comcare changes covering Commonwealth workers.

The Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the
new bill. ''Stress claims threaten to be an epidemic for the WorkCover scheme
and we have found that personal stresses are sometimes being blamed on work,''
said senior public affairs manager Chris James. ''It this was allowed to continue,
the scheme would blow out.''

Government spokesman Jason Frenkel said the ''vast majority'' of stress claims
will still be compensated. ''The new laws will clarify the circumstances where
reasonable management practices such as performance appraisals can occur and
not be used as the sole grounds for lodging a stress claim,'' he said.

''The new laws strike the right balance between protecting a worker's legitimate
right to be compensated for stress and the need to protect the scheme from
frivolous claims.''

The Coalition said it had concerns about the bill but refused to elaborate.
''The Opposition will be consulting widely with all affected parties,'' said
spokesman Paul Price.

Mr Hanks, who recommended the changes in his review, wrote in his report:
''In my view, the requirement that management action must have been 'reasonable'
 … should continue to provide protection to workers from employers' harsh or
unjust management decisions.''


Victorian claims

Stress and mental injury claims grew from 1500 in 1998 to 3000 in 2004.

About 30,000 WorkCover physical and stress injury claims are made each year.

In 2006-2007, 2751 of these claims were related to stress; 766 were claims made by government employees.

SOURCE: WorkCover Stress Eligibility Project