Shlimon v Steric Pty Ltd - [2025] NSWPIC 252

CERTIFICATE OF DETERMINATION OF MEMBER
CITATION:	Shlimon v Steric Pty Ltd [2025] NSWPIC 252
APPLICANT:	Shlimon Youkhana Shlimon
RESPONDENT:	Steric Pty Ltd
MEMBER:	Mitchell Strachan
DATE OF DECISION:	4 June 2025
CATCHWORDS:	WORKERS COMPENSATION - Workers Compensation Act 1987 (1987 Act); Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (1998 Act); relevant date of injury for lump sum claim where further disease injury in same employment; Haddad v The GEO Group Australia Pty Ltd, and Ozcan v Macarthur Disability Services Ltd considered; Held – where later injury augmented impairment resulting from initial injury monetary value of entitlement to compensation to be assessed on initial date of injury.
DETERMINATIONS MADE:	The Commission determines: 1. The applicant sustained injury to his left shoulder and lumbar spine as a result of the nature and conditions of his employment with respondent up to 3 November 2004 with a deemed date of 3 November 2004; 2. The applicant sustained a further injury to his left shoulder, right shoulder, lumbar spine and a consequential condition to his urinary and reproductive system due to the nature and conditions of his employment up to 22 July 2020 with a deemed date of injury of 22 July 2020. 3. The 3 November 2004 injury materially contributed to the further injury of 22 July 2020 such that impairment resulting from the latter injury is to be assessed as resulting from the 3 November 2004 injury. 4. The monetary compensation payable to the applicant pursuant to s 66 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 is to be calculated with reference to the 3 November 2004 injury. 5. Pursuant to s 329(1A) of the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 the claim for permanent impairment compensation is remitted to the President for referral back to Medical Assessors Carter and Obele for reconsideration with respect to: (a) correction of the date of injury such that it is injury on 3 November 2004 (incorporating injury on 22 July 2020 (deemed), and (b) correction of any error with respect to the left and right upper extremity in the lead Medical Assessment Certificate of Dr Carter which inverts the findings of Medical Assessor Obele with respect to the left and right upper extremity. A brief statement is attached setting out the Commission’s reasons for the determination.

STATEMENT OF REASONS

BACKGROUND

Shlimon Youkhana Shlimon (the applicant) commenced employment with Steric Pty Ltd (the respondent) in about November 1993 as a process worker, packer, forklift driver and general labourer.
In about 2006 he brought a claim for lump sum compensation for injuries to his lumbar spine and left shoulder due to the nature and conditions of his employment with the respondent and was ultimately paid $12,500 for 10% whole person impairment with respect to the period of employment up to 3 November 2004.
The applicant continued to work for the respondent up until 14 February 2021 and his employment was terminated in the months that followed.
On 17 October 2024 the applicant commenced proceedings in…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

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Details

AGLC: Shlimon v Steric Pty Ltd [2025] NSWPIC 252
Case: [2025] NSWPIC 252
Decision Date: 4 June 2025

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Shlimon v Steric Pty Ltd involved a dispute between an injured worker and their employer over the calculation of a lump sum compensation claim under the Workers Compensation Act 1987. The injured worker, Mr Shlimon, claimed that his employer, Steric Pty Ltd, was liable to pay him a lump sum compensation for a disease injury sustained during his employment. The employer argued that the relevant date for calculating the lump sum was the date when a subsequent disease injury augmented the impairment resulting from the initial injury. The case was heard in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The court had to decide whether the relevant date for calculating the lump sum compensation was the date of the initial injury or the date of the subsequent injury that augmented the impairment. The court considered two previous decisions, Haddad v The GEO Group Australia Pty Ltd and Ozcan v Macarthur Disability Services Ltd, which had held that where a later injury augmented impairment resulting from an initial injury, the monetary value of entitlement to compensation was to be assessed on the date of the initial injury.

The court held that the relevant date for calculating the lump sum compensation was the date of the initial injury. The court noted that the purpose of the legislation was to compensate the injured worker for the impairment resulting from the injury, and that the subsequent injury did not alter the impairment resulting from the initial injury. The court held that the employer was liable to pay the lump sum compensation based on the date of the initial injury.

The court ordered that the employer pay the lump sum compensation to the injured worker based on the date of the initial injury. The court also noted that the employer could seek a contribution from any other party liable for the subsequent injury that augmented the impairment.

Orders