Camden Council v Harle

Camden Council has appealed against a decision of the Medical Assessor (MA) to reduce the level of a workers compensation claim by 1/10th under section 323 of the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (1998 Act). The MA had based his decision on a statutory presumption under section 323(2) of the 1998 Act, which Camden Council contends was erroneous. The MA also failed to provide adequate reasons for his decision and applied an incorrect test when determining the percentage of the claimant's impairment attributable to her employment injury. The Local, District and Magistrates Court heard the appeal and considered the arguments presented by both parties.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the MA had erred in his application of the statutory presumption under section 323(2) of the 1998 Act. Camden Council argued that the MA failed to consider a large body of evidence which indicated that the claimant was already under psychiatric care when she commenced employment. The MA made an error of fact and applied the incorrect criteria in applying the statutory 1/10th deduction pursuant to section 38(2) of the Workers Compensation Act 1987. The court found that there was no shortage of medical evidence before the MA as to the pre-existing condition which was at odds with the 1/10th assessment. The MA also failed to give adequate reasons as to the deduction accordingly. The court held that the MA applied the wrong test in considering whether the employment injury had significantly aggravated the worker’s pre-existing condition, rather than determining whether the pre-existing condition had itself caused a deductible impairment.

In its decision, the court found that the MA had erred in his application of the statutory presumption under section 323(2) of the 1998 Act, and that the MA had failed to provide adequate reasons for his decision. The court also found that the MA had applied an incorrect test in determining the percentage of the claimant's impairment attributable to her employment injury. Accordingly, the court revoked the Medical Assessment Certificate and found that Chapter 11.10 of the Workers Compensation Guidelines was inconsistent with section 323 of the 1998 Act. The court applied section 323(1) of the 1998 Act and increased the deduction to 20%. The court called for written submissions from both parties on the tension between section 323 of the 1998 Act and Chapter 11.10 of the Guidelines.