Toll Tasmania gets early win in obese truck driver’s compensation case

A Tassie truckie who claimed he had been “bullied” by his employer for his weight has stumbled at his attempt to claim worker’s compensation. LATEST >>

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AN OBESE Tasmanian truck driver has failed at the first step in his bid for a worker’s compensation claim after he was moved to alternate duties due to his weight.

A recent decent published by the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Tribunal said the unidentified Toll Tasmania worker was found to exceed the 150kg weight rating for the truck seat.

Commissioner Lucinda Wilkins wrote that the worker had been employed as a truck driver since at least early 2019 and it was not until May 2020 the company became aware his weight “significantly exceeded” the weight rating on the truck seats for heavy rigid trucks which the worker had been driving.

The worker was stood down from driving duties and given some alternative duties at the depot.

Toll Holdings Ltd. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg News.

In June 2020, he made a claim for workers compensation for low back pain, which he said was caused by standing for prolonged periods and doing manual labour as part of the alternative duties.

Commissioner Wilkins wrote that a dispute arose the worker had a longstanding, pre-existing, non-specific lower back pain condition and he was sent for a medico-legal assessment in March 2021.

The worker told the doctor he had lost 33 kgs in six months and “was determined to get below the 150kg seat rating limit.”

“He had been disappointed that his employer had not offered any assistance with his weight loss efforts,” the decision said.

Commissioner Wilkins noted during a meeting between the worker and employer in July 2020, the worker said he had only told one person about his weight and “he was unsure how the whole situation had come about.”

“He also indicated that he felt the situation was not of his doing and he was being punished for something that was not his fault,” the decision said.

Commissioner Wilkins wrote the worker then made a claim for compensation in February 2021 in relation to a stress and anxiety condition, with a medical certificate which said the worker had stated his condition had occurred in circumstances of “put off work because of his weight, states ongoing harassment and bullying at work.”

The employer disputed liability to pay compensation in relation to this claim on several bases, particularly denying the worker had been bullied or harassed.

The tribunal found the employer had demonstrated it had a “reasonably arguable case” to dispute its liability to pay compensation to the worker, but there were still issues which could only be resolved at an arbitrated hearing, after the tribunal heard the evidence of the parties and made findings of fact.

Ex-Ambulance Tasmania paramedic disciplined for drug offence

A FORMER North West paramedic who stole morphine from Ambulance Tasmania has been professionally disciplined after committing another drug offence in Queensland.

Benjamin Mark Quinn, 36, pleaded guilty to stealing two ampoules of morphine from Ambulance Tasmania while working across the North West during 2013.

Then in 2014, he pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs and stealing as a servant while working at the Murray Island Primary Health Care Clinic in the Torres Strait.

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) deputy president, Judge John Allen QC, said police searched Quinn’s home and found diazepam, the sedative nitrazepam, a tourniquet, morphine and other drugs.

The charge of stealing was dropped. Quinn was fined $380 for possessing dangerous drugs in the Brisbane Magistrates Court, but no conviction was recorded.

Judge Allen said when Quinn was working in Tasmania, anomalies were discovered in Ambulance Tasmania’s addictive drugs register kept at the Mersey Hospital.

Commonwealth-funded Mersey Community Hospital at Latrobe.

Further investigations, including a viewing of video surveillance, showed Quinn “probably removed” two ampoules of morphine from the secure storage area.

Quinn later admitted to “stealing narcotics for his own use” and was charged by Tasmania Police.

He later pleaded guilty to one count of stealing, with all other charges dismissed, and no conviction recorded.

Before QCAT, Quinn argued his behaviour be condemned as “unprofessional conduct” rather than “professional misconduct”, as argued by the Health Ombudsman.

“The respondent’s conduct was a large and considerable departure from the standard of conduct required of a registered nurse of his training and experience,” Judge Allen said.

He noted Quinn had a prior finding of professional misconduct by the Tasmanian Health Practitioners Tribunal and that he was reprimanded with conditions placed upon his registration.

His registration expired in May 2017 and he has not returned to practice as a registered nurse or paramedic since his suspension in 2015.

Quinn, who currently works for a disability support service but has expressed a “strong wish to return to nursing”, was previously diagnosed with a chronic moderate polysubstance use disorder.

He has been described as “dedicated to his recovery”.

The tribunal reprimanded Quinn and made a finding of professional misconduct.

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