In last week’s client alert we discussed the significant issue for employers of dealing with a long-term ill or injured employee. As was noted in the article, most employers in our experience generally want to do the right thing when it comes to dealing with employees who are ill or injured and are unable to return to full time pre-injury employment. This however needs to be balanced against the interests of the business, and in some cases it is simply impractical for the employment to continue. In those circumstances, it is however not simply a matter of dismissing the employee on the basis of the injury or illness for which they have been absent from the workplace.
It might surprise some of our readers but one of the most difficult employment issues for any employer to deal with, is a long term ill or injured employee. There is a significant amount of confusion and lack of understanding regarding the rights of both the employee and the employer in these circumstances. Most employers want to do the right thing when it comes to dealing with employees who are ill or injured and are unable to return to full time pre-injury employment, but need to balance the interests of the employee with the needs of the business.
For many employers operating in professional services and non-industrial industries, the concept of work health and safety is, let’s face it, not thought of as a particularly significant workplace issue. Occupational awareness and the maintenance of safe work systems and practices is, however, not only applicable to heavy industries and those where workers are working with dangerous machinery and equipment. Unfortunately, some employers learn the hard way that the work health and safety laws in Australia are expansive and can be incredibly powerful in circumstances of noncompliance. As is often the case, a fairly minor safety breach or incident is enough to expose an unsafe workplace, and can result in the employer becoming the subject of a safety audit by the regulator, who under the Work Health and Safety legislation has a number of enforcement options available to it.