WorkCover funds are a blow for business

A MASSIVE injection of State Government funds to extend access to WorkCover claims will offer no financial benefit to Dandenong business owners.
So says the Dandenong Chamber of Commerce which has also welcomed State Government reforms to WorkCover that will offer injured employees incentives to return to work earlier. However he also called for WorkCover profits to be directed to employers.
The $155 million package will encourage workers to return part time initially for an increased weekly payout, offer quicker access to benefits for seriously injured workers, extend the current two year support period for injured workers by an extra six months, and offer an increased death payout to affected families.
The Chamber’s president, David Carlson, said high premiums and high WorkCover profits that made the package feasible, should have been directed to employers.
“The reforms for injured workers will be of benefit to some injured workers and their families,” he said.
“The feel within the business community, however, is that WorkCover premiums are certainly a major cost to business, and given that profits made by WorkCover possibly are a result of businesses providing a safer workplace, it would have been preferable for this profit to have been passed on to the employers themselves.”