Injured workers short-changed

Injured worker Sonia Fadlallah must somehow raise her family on $48 per week because the Workers Compensation Commission believes she should be back at work.

Fadlallah is in constant pain because of strain placed on her body while working as a nurse at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital.

Stretching her body to perform ultra-sounds on heart patients for several years, Fadlallah began to experience severe pain and numbness in her neck and arms.

She continued working at the hospital performing light duties, but it was clear that any physical activity just made her injuries worse. Her doctors recommended that she rest until her condition was stablised.

The way workers compensation legislation works, however, means that Fadlallah is only compensated for lost income - that is the amount she would have earned before the injury minus what she could be earning if she was in a suitable job.

Despite her own doctor's analysis and the initial analysis of an insurance company's doctor, the Workers Compensation Commission believes she could still perform nursing duties - hence the meagre payment.

Fadlallah has appealed against the determination, which will take nine months to finalise.

Unions NSW's Mary Yaager said Fadlallah wasn't alone and some injured workers were living off as little as $6 per week.

"Insurance companies are using the current legislation to minimise their obligations - leaving injured workers in an impossible position," she said.

Unions NSW has made a submission to the NSW Government's Personal Injury Compensation Legislation Inquiry calling for the problems to be fixed.

It believes workers compensation should be part of the Industrial Relations Commission, ensuring the right to a fair hearing and basic principles of justice, rather than binding decisions made on the basis of reducing costs.

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Last modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 20:37:38 EST