Woodford v Westpac Group

CERTIFICATE OF DETERMINATION OF MEMBER 

CITATION:

Woodford v Westpac Group [2021] NSWPIC 461

APPLICANT:

Christine Woodford

RESPONDENT:

Westpac Group

MEMBER:

Cameron Burge

DATE OF DECISION:

16 November 2021

CATCHWORDS:

WORKERS COMPENSATION -   Claim for weekly and permanent impairment compensation and medical expenses regarding alleged psychological injury; applicant employed as customer service officer in bank and subjected to repeated interactions with aggressive and violent customer over 12 months, and other work-related problems; respondent denies injury and alleges if there was a work-related injury it was wholly or predominantly caused by its reasonable actions with respect to promotion of the applicant’s co-worker within the branch; Held - applicant suffered work-related psychological injury; the causes of the injury were multi-factorial, not wholly or predominantly the promotion of the applicant’s co-worker; respondent to pay the applicant weekly compensation as set out in the Certificate of Determination; claim for permanent impairment compensation remitted to President for referral to a Medical Assessor; respondent to pay the applicant’s reasonably necessary medical and treatment expenses.

DETERMINATIONS MADE:

1.    Leave is granted to the applicant to amend the Application to Resolve a Dispute to plead a claim for weekly benefits from 1 September 2021 to date and continuing.

2.    The applicant suffered an injury in the course of her employment with the respondent, with a deemed date of injury of 31 May 2019.

3.    The injury referred to in (2) above is not wholly or predominantly caused by the reasonable actions of the respondent with respect to performance appraisal or promotion.

4.    At the date of injury, the applicant's preinjury average weekly earnings were $1,265.53 per week.

5.    Since 1 September 2021, the applicant has been and remains totally incapacitated for employment.

6. The respondent is to pay the applicant weekly compensation pursuant to section 37 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 at the rate of $1,012.26 per week.

7. The respondent is to pay the applicant’s reasonable and necessary medical and treatment expenses pursuant to section 60 to the Workers Compensation Act 1987.

8.    The claim for permanent impairment compensation is remitted to the President for referral to a Medical Assessor to determine the whole person impairment arising from the following:

Date of injury:                  31 May 2019 (deemed).

Body systems referred:      psychological/psychiatric injury.

Method of assessment:   whole person impairment.

9.    The documents to be referred to the Medical Assessor to assist with their determination are to include the following:

(a)    this Certificate of Determination and Statement of Reasons;

(b)    Application to Resolve a Dispute and attachments;

(c)    Reply and attachments, and

(d)    respondent's Application to Admit Late Documents dated 3 September 2021.

STATEMENT OF REASONS

BACKGROUND

Christine Woodford (the applicant) worked for Westpac Group (the respondent) under the St George brand as a customer service specialist, having started working with St George Building Society in 1984. She left that employment in or about 1990 and returned to employment with the Westpac Group in March 2004, working as a casual customer service officer based at Nelson Bay. She…