Following my post RFS Operational officer deemed firefighter v2 (September 25, 2023) I received this very helpful explanation from Greg Dezman, Policy & Governance Manager, NSW Rural Fire Service Association, which I post here with his permission:

Hi Michael

I’ve just read your v2 post on the Birkinhead matter.

You well address the fact of workers comp provisions being a complex mess. That complexity increases further when considering the interplay of various employed officers’ awards with the workers comp system. For example, clause 23.7.7 of the FRNSW Permanent Firefighters Award 2022 requires Fire & Rescue to pay an employee the difference between their workers compensation payment and their ordinary rate of pay. So any disadvantage for a FRNSW firefighter (with regard weekly benefits) has no impact on the individual – they’ll have the difference made up through their payroll. There are also specific disability provisions in the F&R Award (indeed, they have a separate Death & Disability Award). Police also have additional cover in relation to disability through government funded insurance arrangements, and I imagine there would be something similar for NSW Ambulance paramedics.

In terms of the history of some of the changes:

2012 was the first tranche of changes, when the government sought to significantly restrict benefits. It was at this time that firefighters, paramedics, police, volunteers in emergency services and a few others were exempted, retaining the more generous pre-2012 provisions. These changes reduced benefits in a number of areas for other workers:

  • stopped payment of weekly benefits beyond five years in most cases, and medical benefits more than 12 months after the end of weekly benefits;
  • made it harder to claim weekly benefits beyond 2 years;
  • reduced weekly benefits for injured workers with no work capacity;
  • created a threshold of 11% whole person impairment to receive lump sum damages for permanent impairment, and abolished lump sum payments for pain and suffering;
  • removed the ability to claim in respect of most journeys to and from work;
  • made it harder to claim for heart attacks and stroke; and
  • removed the ability of family members to claim for psychological injuries as a result of a worker’s injury/death.

2015 was when the government made some provisions more generous. However, they only did so for non-exempt workers, leaving firefighters, paramedics, police, ES volunteers etc with the older, less generous provisions in these aspects. These changes included:

  • Increases to weekly benefits;
  • Increases to lump sum payments for whole person impairment; and
  • Increases to death benefits (although this particular change did apply to some exempt workers, including firefighters, paramedics, police & ES volunteers)

The 2015 changes have created significant gaps in weekly benefits and lump sum payments for permanent impairment between workers in the general scheme and those exempt from the 2012 changes.

Weekly benefits are slightly more nuanced than in the table in your post. While for the first 26 weeks weekly benefits are 100% of pre-injury earnings, this is only for those employed under an award (and only covers 100% of base salary, not overtime and other allowances). This obviously covers all FRNSW firefighters, NSW Ambulance paramedics and police officers, but is not necessarily the case for volunteers whose regular employment is more varied. For those not employed on an award, weekly benefits in the first 26 weeks are only 80% of pre-injury earnings (although this does include regular overtime and allowances.)

The biggest discrepancy (value-wise) arising as a result of the 2015 changes is for those suffering permanent impairment, especially for volunteers who don’t have the added benefit of disability provisions in an award. For exempt workers still under the pre-2012 scheme, the maximum payment for permanent impairment is just $220,000 (plus up to $50,000 for pain and suffering, for a total of $270,000). This amount is fixed in the pre-2012 Act, and is not subject to indexation. Following the 2015 changes, the base amount of compensation at the highest level of impairment for most workers is $577,050 (plus indexation), bringing the current value of payments to a maximum of $713,660.

2022 was when funeral benefits were finally extended to volunteers, having not been among the provisions of the main workers comp legislation previously picked up by the Workers Compensation (Bush Fire, Emergency and Rescue Services) Act 1987.

There are also other discrepancies among workers compensation coverage that are specific to volunteers, both positive and negative, but these are generally less significant than the above (although that won’t be the experience of anyone who’s personally affected by the difference.)

Hopefully that helps fill in some of the gaps you might have about how the system works. I’m not sure I can lay claim to any particular technical expertise, but happy to talk through any other issues you come across.

Greg

This blog is made possible with generous financial support from the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.