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Issue No. 178 | 16 May 2003 |
Shit Sandwich
Interview: Staying Alive Bad Boss: The Ultimate Piss Off Industrial: Last Drinks National Focus: Around the States Politics: Radical Surgery Education: The Price of Missing Out Legal: If At First You Don't Succeed History: Massive Attack Culture: What's Right Review: If He Should Fall Poetry: If I Were a Rich Man Satire: IMF Ensures Iraq Institutes Market Based Looting
Abbott Picks Fight with Nurses Bank Hold-Ups Expose Compo Failings Della�s Dallying Could Cost Miners Ministers of Misinformation Scoop Orwells Currawong Cottages Waiting for You
The Soapbox Solidarity The Locker Room Postcard Bosswatch
In Defence of Tom
Labor Council of NSW |
News Bank Hold-Ups Expose Compo Failings
The Finance Sector Union is highlighting the impact of the changes, comparing a recent $100,000 payout to a hold-up victim under the previous system, to advice that victims of a recent spate of hold-ups at ANZ Peakhurst will receive nothing. FSU NSW-ACT secretary Geoff Derrick says the new laws leave bank workers without protection because of new thresholds calculating psychological loss. Under the changes, workers need to show a 15 per cent whole of boy impairment, a threshold that psychiatrists are struggling to apply to cases of shock. "We are finding that the new laws effectively absolve employers from taking responsibility for the psychological well-being of their workers," Derrick says. Derrick points to the recent successful claim by a member at St George's Chester Hill branch who received more than $100,000 in compensation because of injuries she suffered after her employer was found to have breached its duty of care But the FSU has been advised that despite four hold-ups at ANZ Peakhurst in last eight months, and evidence that the ANZ has failed in their duty of care, the bank workers will not be able to take action because of the prohibitative threshold. To add to the insult, the major banks do not even contribute to the WorkCover Scheme that the reforms were designed to save. As self-insurers, the major banks take out their own insurance, although the same rules for assessing claims apply. Derrick says this amounts to a major saving for the banks. " Their exposure to claims has been reduced by the changes. "Self-insuranc eis a gamble, and the compo changes have shifted the odds dramatically in favour of the banks." The FSU is calling on WorkCover to reconsider the major banks' status as self-insurers and seeking a review of the workers compensation laws to ensure victims of armed hold-ups do have access to compensation. As for ANZ, the union is considering a prosecution for breach of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, focusing on the string of hold-ups at Peakhurst.
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