Age

1
Age Injury Management, Rehabilitation
Compensation

• Dr Janis Jansz
• Dr Robert Guthrie
• Curtin University of Technology

2
Some Case Studies

• Malcolm Douglas - Aged 66 years
• Merrill Fernando - Aged 75 years
• Dr David Goodall - Aged 94 years
• Buster Martin - Aged 100 years
• Barrett Nichols - Aged 105 years

3
Why Retire at 65 years old?

4
Relevant Legislation

• Commonwealth Public Service Act 1966
• Age Discrimination Act 2004
• Equal Opportunity Act 1984
• Superannuation.

5
Reasons for working beyond 65 years old

• Professional commitment to care
• Organisational commitment
• Financial imperatives
• Personal imperatives

6
Age Abilities

• Physical
• Mental

7
Workers Compensation
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9
Workers Compensation

• All States have compensation systems.
• All States except Queensland have an age limit on
  the payment of compensation

10
Workers Compensation

• The common age for cessation of payments under
  the Australian compensation schemes is 65 years
• The rationale for cessation at 65 years is
  related to notional retirement age, eligibility
  for pensions and superannuation payments

11
Workers Compensation

• Most states have specific age reference eg 65
  years or a reference to eligibility to a
  pension.
• Legislation to prohibit age discrimination in
  most States and since 2004 Federally
• Prohibits discrimination in employment selection
  and termination thus it prevents termination of
  employment at 65 years

12
Age and Injury

• Workers over 65 years are the least likely to be
  injured at work.
• When injured those over 65 tend to be slow to
  recover so that claims costs for the over 65
  year group can be high
• Rehabilitation appears to be harder for older
  workers

13
Conclusions

• Age discrimination is increasing
• Workers compensation laws are discriminatory
• Change to the workers compensation laws needs to
  be investigated costing of the system need to
  done
• Alternatives to workers compensation might be
  taken up if no changes.