Work Capacity Decisions can be extremely unfair for injured workers, as the RMB Compensation Division explains.
Work Capacity Decisions are an assessment of an injured worker’s current work capacity, which can significantly reduce the injured worker’s entitlement to weekly benefits, regardless of whether they have been able to obtain employment or not.
In these decisions, the insurer will identify a variety of roles which are deemed as “suitable employment”. The suitably of employment does not need to have regard to whether the employment is available, the nature of the worker’s pre-injury employment, nor the worker’s place of residence.
If the insurer determines that an injured worker may be able to obtain employment in one of the “suitable employment” options, they may decide to reduce the weekly benefits to a nominal sum or potentially zero.
These decisions are often very unfair, and in many cases injured workers are unable to obtain employment in the proposed suitable roles.
These decisions can be made at any time throughout the claim, although are usually made at or prior to the worker receiving weekly compensation for a period of 130 weeks. This is an important milestone, as workers are only entitled to receive weekly payments after 130 weeks if they are either:
- Totally unfit for work; or
- Working at least 15 hours per week.
If you have been issued a Work Capacity Decision by your workers compensation insurer, it is important that you obtain urgent legal advice, as you may be able to have the decision stayed if an application in the Personal Injury Commission is lodged before the date the decision comes into effect.
In a recent matter, our client was issued with a Work Capacity Decision reducing his weekly benefits to $8 per week, as the insurer indicated he could obtain employment as a driver, forklift driver or traffic controller.
Our client suffered a severe shoulder injury to his dominant arm and was unable to lift his arm above waist height. Upon lodging a dispute in the Personal Injury Commission, the insurer withdrew its decision as all the evidence showed that it would be unsafe for our client to work in the suggested roles when he had limited to no movement in his dominant arm.
Further, all injured workers in New South Wales are entitled to legal funding through the Independent Review Office (IRO) to obtain legal advice and challenge the insurer’s decision. You can contact our office by phone on Freecall 1800 681 211 for a consultation, or use our 'Ask a Question' tool on our website.