Iselin and Comcare (Compensation)

This matter concerned an application by the Applicant for compensation under the *Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988* (Cth) against Comcare. The dispute centred on the Applicant's entitlement to compensation for periods of alleged incapacity for work, arising from both a shoulder injury and a psychiatric injury. The decision was made by B Cullen SM in the Tribunal.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the Applicant had suffered an incapacity for work due to her shoulder injury from 4 June 2019 onwards, and whether she had any incapacity for her usual work arising from her psychiatric injury during the period between 9 April 2019 and 25 September 2020. Additionally, the Tribunal was required to consider the calculation of incapacity payments under section 19 of the *SRC Act*, particularly in light of the Applicant's usual hours of work and the duration of her incapacity.

The Tribunal reasoned that the Applicant had returned to her usual hours of work from "Week 9" of her graduated return to work program, commencing on 4 June 2019, and therefore had no incapacity to work on the basis of her shoulder injury from that date. Regarding the psychiatric injury, the Tribunal accepted the conclusion of Dr Gray that while the Applicant experienced reactive psychological symptoms associated with her shoulder injury, these did not constitute a psychiatric condition and did not cause impairment for phone-based work as an interviewer. The Tribunal found that the Applicant was able to work her usual hours in her role as an interviewer, and thus had no incapacity for her usual work arising from the psychiatric injury during the relevant period. The Tribunal also noted that the Applicant had been partially incapacitated for work due to her shoulder injury from 9 April 2019 to 3 June 2019, and that the total number of hours she was prevented from working exceeded 45 times her normal weekly hours, which would affect the calculation of future compensation payments under section 19(3) of the *SRC Act*.