Episode Summary: In this episode Keven Sawers from Walker Law Group explains to us all what workers rights are, how they should expect to engage with a case manager, what their own responsibility is in getting back to work as soon as possible.

Caroline also explains how the workers compensation scheme should work.  

Guests: Kevin Sawyers (Walker Law Group)

Host: Abe

The workers compensation schemes emphasise the importance of choice for a worker, but the reality is that a person who has had an injury for a long time rarely feels empowered.

The workers’ compensation scheme was intended to prioritise the worker’s role in their claim process to ensure that they are at the centre of their claim yet if you ask any injured worker who has been in the scheme for any length of time if they feel that they have “power”, “choice” or “control” there will be a deafening chorus of “no!”.

In 2022 research showed that injured workers are regularly subjected to unfair processes. The research showed that workers can be treated unfairly by employers, insurers and return to work co-ordinators. The researchers also found that there are several ways that injured workers tend to respond to feeling unfairly treated, they can be (1) passive, (2) fight back, (3) quit pursuit of claim, (4) quit their job, (5) win or go on fighting. The injured worker can feel confused, angry, frustrated, unsupported, disappointed, determined, and only sometimes optimistic. A far cry from the original purpose of the scheme, being to keep the injured worker at the centre of everything.

Why should an injured worker feel empowered? Why do they need to understand the process? Why do they need to know when we have claims managers, rehab providers, doctors, treating therapists, return to work coordinators, brokers and so many more people who know what is going on? Why should the person who is injured have as much accessible information as possible?

I don’t seriously need to answer that. You already know, because if it was you who had become injured, wouldn’t you want to feel like you knew what was going on, had good relationships with everyone, felt that people cared about you and your recovery? Wouldn’t feeling in control make you want to go back to work quicker?

A person injured during the course of their employment should always know what is going on in their claim, they should have the right to choose their own doctor, a lawyer and a rehabilitation provider. A person should have a good relationship with their insurance case manager, they should feel supported through their recovery, they should be part of the planning on how they recover so that when they do return to work the re-entry to work after an injury is sustainable.

A person injured at work should feel in control at all points in time so that they have the space to recover safely.

A quick search of Australian based research revealed however that injured workers often face obstacles in exercising their right to choose how they’re supported and by whom which leads to tension, disempowerment, and higher economic costs (Anderson, O., McLennan, V., and Randall, C. 2022). Anderson et al found that whilst injured workers are expected to constantly make decisions, they are being asked to make the decisions in an environment that is systematically designed to obstruct their sense of choice.

If you deny worker choice in the course of their own workers compensation claim, the cost of the scheme increases.

The workers own finances are negatively impacted, relationships between the stakeholders are impacted and of course the haloed goal of returning back to life and work grinds to a halt.

The purpose of the second episode in the My Social Support Network Podcast was to make a start on giving information to an injured worker about some of the legal rights and responsibilities during the course of a claim.

If you want to hear our chat with “The Lawyer” then Listen now! To our chat with Keven Sawers from Walker Law Group as he explains to us all what a workers rights are, how they should expect to engage with a case manager, what their own responsibility is in getting back to work as soon as possible.

If you have any topics you would like the podcast to cover then contact us at hello@mssn.com.au