Want and Comcare (Compensation)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr. Want against decisions by Comcare to deny liability for workers' compensation claims. The initial claim, lodged on 22 September 2014, alleged nausea and anxiety, which Comcare denied on 12 February 2015, and affirmed on reconsideration on 23 April 2015. Mr. Want subsequently sought acceptance for a psychiatric injury as a sequela to a back injury for which Comcare had accepted liability in March 2010. Comcare denied this second claim on 21 June 2016 and affirmed it on 22 July 2016. The Tribunal was asked to conduct a merits review of these decisions.

The Tribunal was required to determine several key issues. These included identifying the date on which Mr. Want suffered his psychological ailment, whether a work-related factor contributed to a significant degree to that ailment, and if so, whether that factor constituted reasonable administrative action taken in a reasonable manner. Furthermore, the Tribunal had to consider whether Mr. Want would have suffered his ailment if the reasonable administrative action had not been taken. A preliminary issue also arose regarding the jurisdiction to review a decision that Comcare conceded had been inaccurately processed.

In its reasoning, the Tribunal noted that while the approach approved for physical injuries might be less useful for psychological injuries with multiple contributing factors, the parties agreed that Mr. Want was mentally injured by his employment, but disagreed on the timing. The Tribunal found that Comcare's concession that it had wrongly treated the second claim as identical to the first, and its late change of position, meant that the 2016 claim had not undergone the full review process contemplated by the Act. Regarding the merits, the Tribunal could not be satisfied that Mr. Want would not have suffered his disease if the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) process had not occurred, meaning the exclusion under s 5A(1) could not apply.

Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the reviewable decision of 23 April 2015, finding that Mr. Want suffered an injury under s 14, specifically an adjustment disorder with depression and anxiety, with a date of injury of 21 June 2013. The Tribunal affirmed the reviewable decision of 22 July 2016.