Check a workplace return to work program against the employer category
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the employer's premium, insurance and worker numbers, mark category 1 or category 2 using only the guidelines, and list the gaps in the return to work program. Category 1 is a basic tariff premium over $50,000 a year, or a self-insurer, or an employer insured by a specialised insurer with more than 20 workers. Category 2 is any employer that is not category 1. Both must have a program within 12 months of becoming that category. A category 1 program must align with the insurer's injury management program and be reviewed at least every two years. Category 1 has four activities: appoint a return to work coordinator with the relevant training, skills and experience, employed or engaged by the employer; develop the program; consult workers and unions; and implement it, including displaying or notifying the workplace of the program, which the guidelines say is an offence to fail to do. Category 2 has three activities: nominate a person responsible for recovery at work (a coordinator is not required); develop a program, which may be the standard program or the employer's own; and implement it by telling workers of their rights and procedures, making copies available, and giving a copy to a worker who asks or who has a claim. If those arrangements are in place, category 2 employers are not required to display the program. Category 2 employers must consult workers and any industrial union that represents them. Both categories: the employer must offer suitable work where reasonably practicable, including when a claim is in dispute. Suitable work may be full time or part time and, where reasonably practicable, the same as or equivalent to the pre-injury employment. Do not decide that suitable work is reasonably practicable.
- What the lawyer must review
- The lawyer confirms the category and whether the program and the offer of suitable work meet the guidelines. The guidelines say the categories come from the 1998 Act and the 2016 Regulation. Those texts were not opened. Other states' return to work duties were not opened.
Open a jurisdiction version of this task to see which instruments apply: NSWQLDVIC
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | From the employer's premium, insurance and worker numbers, mark category 1 or category 2 using only the guidelines, and list the gaps in the return to work program. Category 1 is a basic tariff premium over $50,000 a year, or a self-insurer, or an employer insured by a specialised insurer with more than 20 workers. Category 2 is any employer that is not category 1. Both must have a program within 12 months of becoming that category. A category 1 program must align with the insurer's injury management program and be reviewed at least every two years. Category 1 has four activities: appoint a return to work coordinator with the relevant training, skills and experience, employed or engaged by the employer; develop the program; consult workers and unions; and implement it, including displaying or notifying the workplace of the program, which the guidelines say is an offence to fail to do. Category 2 has three activities: nominate a person responsible for recovery at work (a coordinator is not required); develop a program, which may be the standard program or the employer's own; and implement it by telling workers of their rights and procedures, making copies available, and giving a copy to a worker who asks or who has a claim. If those arrangements are in place, category 2 employers are not required to display the program. Category 2 employers must consult workers and any industrial union that represents them. Both categories: the employer must offer suitable work where reasonably practicable, including when a claim is in dispute. Suitable work may be full time or part time and, where reasonably practicable, the same as or equivalent to the pre-injury employment. Do not decide that suitable work is reasonably practicable. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Classify from premium, self-insurance or the specialised-insurer headcount. Do not treat 20 workers as category 1.
- Do not require a coordinator, or display of the program, for a category 2 employer who meets the copy rules.
- Record the offer of suitable work as an open question of what is reasonably practicable. Do not answer it.
Sources
These are suggested working checks. Confirm the required checking with the responsible lawyer before work starts; the checking approach does not establish permission to use AI.