WorkSafe Victoria a habitual litigant, says chief judge.

Here’s an article from today’s Age regarding Worksafe’s tactics of playing hard ball with workers’ entitlements. Apart from the fact that these proceedings delay payment of benefits to injured workers by months if not years, they also cost taxpayers a fortune.

Here’s the transcript :

“ The County Court’s chief judge has warned WorkSafe Victoria to be more realistic about its legal battles against workers applying for compensation, which he says are putting pressure on the court.

Workers claiming compensation from their employers for an injury sustained in the workplace must first apply to WorkSafe to determine that it is serious.

Chief judge Michael Rozenes lashed out at WorkSafe in the court’s annual report on Tuesday, criticising the number of challenges it mounts. He said WorkSafe had challenged 228 of the 302 serious injury applications concluded in the court in 2012-13. Claimants won most of these contests.

’‘The VWA is a litigant which consistently loses at least 80 per cent of the applications it contests,” he said. “I continue to hope that in the future greater consideration is given, and a more realistic assessment of the prospects of success conducted, before litigation that is both costly and time consuming is proceeded with.”

A WorkCover spokesman said more than 90 per cent of more than 2500 serious injury applications in 2012-13 were resolved without the need for the court to consider the applications.“

The article can be found here:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/worksafe-victoria-a-habitual-litigant-says-chief-judge-20131126-2y83l.html#ixzz2lob5qWrX