Red Tape article (Jan – April 2016)

The Court of Appeal last year handed down a very important decision in favour of the PSA and all injured workers in NSW.

For the last two years, the PSA has been fighting to have an injured Correctional Officer returned to his previous employment under Section 240 and 241 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987.

This member was injured undertaking his duties and as a consequence was medically dismissed and subsequently received a payout.

The injured Correctional Officer eventually recovered and wished to be reinstated to his previous employment. The PSA took his case to the Industrial Relations Commission where the Commissioner found in favour of our member. The employer then appealed this decision to the Full Bench of the Industrial Relations Commission, which overturned the original ruling.

The PSA then decided to appeal this ruling of the Full Bench to the Court of Appeal.

Your union made the decision to appeal as the matter had implications for all our members and because it fitted within its broader strategy of leading the fight against the unfair aspects of the workers compensation legislation.

On December 4 2015, the Court of Appeal set aside the ruling of the Full Bench and court costs were awarded to the PSA.

The only avenue of appeal now within the court system is to the High Court.