Recently NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced some significant changes to the NSW Workers Compensation legislation relating to how it deals with claims concerning contracting Covid-19 in the workplace.

The Covid related changes were first introduced in May of 2020 and was applicable to a specified range of industries.  Under the changes, there was a presumption that employees within those industries had contracted the virus at work unless the employer was able to demonstrate that the employee in fact contracted the virus outside the workplace.

At the time that this legislation was introduced, On Demand HR was very vocal in our community highlighting that this “reverse onus of proof” was impractical and relied very heavily on contract tracing which at the time was not capable of tracing all cases.  We made the point that should there be significant community case numbers such as what was seen over the past few months that contract tracing would break down and employers would be on the hook.

As NSW has now begun to re-open, it appears in this case at least that logic and common sense has prevailed.  Mr Perrottet has indicated that he intends to revoke this “reverse onus of proof” leaving the obligation with employees to demonstrate for the purposes of claiming workers compensation that should they contract Coronavirus this indeed did happen in connection with their employment.

Of course, this does not completely absolve employers and employees may still be able to lodge a Workers Compensation claim if the connection between contracting the virus and the workplace can be made.  However, in On Demand HR’s view this is certainly a step in the right direction.

That’s all for this short update and looking forward to seeing you all in the next one.