Workplace bullying claims to be heard in new IR court
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey briefed colleagues on workers compensation changes on Tuesday, ahead of a fight with the union movement.
NSW
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Bullying and harassment disputes in the workplace will be fought out in a new division of the Industrial Relations Commission to stop the broken workers compensation system collapsing under an avalanche of psychological injury claims.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey briefed Labor caucus on Tuesday to explain why reforms are needed, as the government braces for an all-out assault from the union movement.
Mr Mookhey wants to make it harder for workers to make compensation claims for psychological injuries such as bullying and harassment.
The Treasurer will propose creating a new “bullying and harassment” division of the Industrial Relations Court to rule over workplace disputes before they progress to compensation claims. The IRC will be able to impose “stop-bullying orders” on workplaces, and order conciliation and hearings, according to the Treasurer’s briefing.
Meanwhile, NSW’s peak business lobby has joined the fight to reform the “out of control” system which is losing $5 million every day.
Business NSW CEO Daniel Hunter said he is aware of “dozens” of cases where employees are lodging compensation claims as a defence against “low level workplace disputes and underperformance”.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, CEO Daniel Hunter said that in one case, a worker doing only half the workload of other team members told their boss they had developed a psychological injury immediately after a performance management meeting.
She succeeded in getting compensation in the Personal Injury Commission based on a “perception of being overworked”.
Three years on, Mr Hunter said, the employee can still only work 16 hours per week and is still getting compensation payments.
The business has been forced to pay significantly higher premiums.
“The workers’ compensation scheme has become an all-to-common common entry point for workplace disputes between managers and staff,” he said.
Mr Hunter called for performance management issues to be excluded from the workers compensation system.
“Anything that’s performance based, that somebody doesn’t like, can just be accepted as a workers compensation claim, and then it gets exponentially out of control,” he said.
The Telegraph last month revealed that a worker at a Sydney pub was forced to hand back $60,000 after she was discovered working at a rival hotel while receiving compensation payments due to a psychological injury.
Mr Hunter was recently installed on the board of iCare, which runs the NSW workers compensation system.
He said there was no conflict in his calls for the system to be reformed as iCare only manages the scheme set down in legislation.
But UnionsNSW is preparing a full frontal campaign opposing the changes, booking advertising spots across print, television and radio.
“No-one knows what he (Mr Mookhey) is trying to achieve, this is not actually going to reform the system,” UnionsNSW boss Mark Morey said.
Originally published as Workplace bullying claims to be heard in new IR court
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