Lawyer Monthly Magazine - July 2019 Edition

LM90-17 99 First Choice Lawyers www. lawyer-monthly .com JUL 2019 “ In my view, there needs to be a complete overhaul in respect to all legislation and laws which apply to persons throughout Australia. ” 16 of the Civil Liability Act in the state of New South Wales; in the most extreme case, the receipt of compensation is approximately $587,000 and this is often compared to a quadriplegic if the injury so warrants. Workers are not aware of this and the fact that their firm ought to offer specific specialities and have significant resources to ensure that workers receive their full entitlements. Clearly in the state of New South Wales, most firms miss this opportunity and as a result, expose themselves to what can be professional negligence for failing to advise their client correctly. On the other hand, what laws work in favour of employers, or their insurance holders? This is a question which warrants specific reflection and a fine understanding of the entitlements to which injured people are entitled to. No law can specifically cover all compensation and one needs to remember that the drafting of the legislation is often made by politicians and they are out of touch with the realities of what workers require in terms of if and when they are injured and what subcontractors and/or head contractors under the Public Liability Act 2002, in the state of New South Wales. The Acts vary to time to time and they offer different forms of compensation. For instance, the public liability legislation, if a worker chooses to cross-claim and/or sue director a subcontractor or head project manager, allows the worker to receive compensation for general damages, past and future domestic assistance and past wages and superannuation benefits. Most workers receive limited legal advice, unfortunately, and only sue their employer. When suing their employer, they only receive the following heads of damages: • Past economic loss • Future economic loss • Past superannuation • Future superannuation There is no compensation entitled to the worker if he sues only his employer for past and future domestic assistance, which is often the case. When suing an occupier, the worker can sue for damages in accordance with Section compensation would rightfully be the compensation in light of their injuries. Insurance holders often are the worker’s employer. Various WorkCover legislation and laws in Australia insist, and it is mandatory for an employer, to take out workers compensation insurance for his or her employees. Failure to do so attracts penalty points by way of a fine and on last reading of the appropriate legislation, up to $10,000 may be payable by the employer if he or she lacks the compulsory cover. With generations being more aware of their rights, is there anything else, or any other regulatory changes you wish to see for the betterment of your clients? In my view, there needs to be a complete overhaul in respect to all legislation and laws which apply to persons throughout Australia. The most recent changes which have occurred are the changes to worker’s rights and all other person’s rights in New South Wales in the last 10 years is, in my view, extremely unfair. A cap is placed on what general damages persons can receive together with limited periods of weekly compensation payments paid to persons who receive compensations. The politicians have not taken the best interests of injured persons into consideration. It is no coincidence that when the legislative changes have been made under the various leading politician(s) which are in government and when they retire from their position of government they miraculously end up on the Boards of insurance companies with big fat paycheques exceeding $1m per annum. I’m not