Work Injuries and Dismissals - Be Careful

We are getting a lot of enquiries lately from employers who are looking to terminate under performing employees. Nothing new there - however there is a twist.

The problem is that during the performance management process, including warning letters and so forth, the employees in these cases are putting in claims for compensation for stress and the like, relating to bullying and harassment.

The general allegation you see is that the employee has been bullied and that the employer is just looking for an excuse to terminate. Now, I should make it clear, that these claims are not always made up by the employee and there a lots of situations where there are valid bullying claims, however from an employer's perspective the claim of bullying may be nothing more than attempt to circumvent to performance management process. What happens is that the employee goes on either sick leave, or makes a claim for workers compensation due to stress which effectively stops process because the employee is longer at work.

If this happens, the employer needs to be very careful if it intends to continue with the dismissal process so that it does not fall foul of both the Fair Work Act and the relevant State workers compensation legislation. There is a mine field of issues that could cause an adverse action or discrimination action to be brought if not done the right way.

Furthermore, if a spurious claim for workers compensation is made, it is vital that employers take a pro-active approach with Insurers IMMEDIATELY, so that the Insurer does not accept the claim because of lack of information.

Changing tack, a big congratulations to my Sea Eagles on taking the title for 2011.Was a little worried with 10 to go, but they thoroughly deserved their 8th title, all time. Th.e only disappointing part was the presentation with Brett Stewart I am as big a Manly fan as there is however, as I tweeted earlier this week , its time Brett Stewart pulled his head in and got on with life. What happened to him with the criminal allegations was not David Gallop's fault - it's time to move on.

Onto NFL, and yours truly has opened a big lead in the tipping comp, getting 11 of 16 last weekend against the spread.This week I like the 49ers at home giving 1.5.TK like his Packers at Atlanta by more than 6, however given his record to date, you may want to steer clear!!