I asked for help to return safely to my work. Why was I still pleading in November 2022?

On 15 November 2022, I sent another account to both SIRA NSW and SafeWork NSW, of what had happened after I reported workplace psychosocial hazards and made a workers’ compensation claim. I also asked for something I had sought throughout: action that would allow me to recover and return safely to my work and my university community.

The document brought together correspondence from 2020 and 2021. Reading the dates in sequence raises questions about how my claim was handled, what happened to the insurer’s injury management plan, and why my repeated requests for help had still not produced a safe path back to work.

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A plan issued, but where was the support?

Catholic Church Insurance (CCI) issued an Injury Management Plan on 25 June 2020. Its goal was a return to my pre-injury duties. I wanted to work with my treating professionals, a case manager, a return-to-work coordinator and rehabilitation support to make that possible. In my November 2022 account, I said the plan had never been implemented.

The claim form itself became another source of distress. I had reported my injury and submitted my first certificate of capacity in May 2020. Yet, as my 2 October 2020 email to CCI records, I had only learned about the claim form through WIRO on 1 October 2020. I sent the form to CCI the next day.

By then, I told the insurer, I had used my personal, annual and long service leave, was facing financial distress, and remained exposed to the employer conduct I had reported. I wrote:

“I request clear communication, updates and transparency with the next steps in the process from this moment on.”

CCI confirmed on 6 October 2020 that it had received my claim form. This claim form, and knowledge about its existence, had been withheld from me since the start of the claim in late May 2020. I continued to seek information about its requests to my doctor, the medical evidence it held and when it would make a decision. My 21 October 2020 response challenged several statements relayed by CCI, including whether it had requested clinical notes. CCI declined the claim on 22 October 2020, according to the chronology I compiled.

These exchanges deserve careful examination. A worker trying to recover should be able to find out what the insurer needs, what action it has taken and who is coordinating the return-to-work process.

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The questions I kept asking

On 13 January 2021, I complained to WIRO about CCI’s handling of my claim. I said the insurer’s failure to communicate and cooperate had left me exposed to further distress while I was trying to return safely to work. After CCI responded, I asked why I hadn’t been assigned a case manager to carry forward the June 2020 plan.

I put that question directly to CCI through IRO on 18 October 2021:

“Why did CCI not assign a case manager to me from July 2020, to communicate with my GP and psychologist, and implement the injury management plan as agreed on 25 June 2020?”

I also asked why the psychologist’s return-to-work recommendations hadn’t led to action, why I had learned about the claim form months after reporting my injury, and how information from a factual investigation prepared for the insurer came to be proposed for use in an employer investigation. I had serious concerns about the handling of private information concerning me and my family.

Those were requests for specific explanations. I wanted the records checked and answers given in writing.

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The cost of being passed between systems

My November 2022 account describes attempts to obtain help from the insurer, IRO, SIRA, SafeWork NSW and others. I reported the conduct I experienced as harassment and adverse action, and I asked for it to stop. I remained concerned that responsibility for my safety and recovery was being passed around while the harm continued.

In correspondence from August 2021, I wrote to CCI about what workers’ compensation was meant to achieve: helping an injured worker recover safely at work. I asked the insurer to act on its injury management plan, address my lost leave and help me return to my substantive role. By October 2021, my request through IRO was painfully simple:

“Give us the start of good news, transparency and positive action.”

On 15 November 2022, I was still asking for my entitlements, my workplace support network and a safe return to the work I had done for two decades. I described being frightened, financially strained and distressed by the continuing “process”. And I still didn’t receive answers to my questions about CCI’s obligations or restore the workplace support I sought and needed for my recovery.

I have raised allegations of serious misconduct and possible fraud. Those allegations require an independent examination of the evidence and fair responses from the organisations concerned. They should neither be accepted nor dismissed without that work being done.

The question remains: 

What happened to the 25 June 2020 Injury Management Plan, and why did I have to keep pleading for clear communication, protection and a safe way to recover in my work?

Source: contemporaneous record of events - Document 562.