We have a Workers Compensation claim where the worker took 14 months from date of injury to lodge the claim. He had been off work for six week prior to lodging the claim, but he had not received a First Medical Certificate from a doctor until that 14 month mark.
The claim was initially pending, given the length of time taken to lodge the claim, but once the claim had been accepted, we received notification from our Insurance Company that our employee had received Centrelink payments of around $3,500 whilst waiting for a decision to be made. We had to reimburse Centrelink the full amount.
We are now nearing the end of the claim and we are in settlement negotiations. As a counter offer, among other things, the worker is claiming reimbursement of $10,000 as he accessed that much from his super while waiting for a decision to be made. I have some questions regarding this:
1. Would he have been able to access early super AND receive Centrelink payments?
2. If he accessed the super prior to the claim form being submitted and a First Medical Certificate being issued, should the insurance company reimburse him for that, since technically he did not have a valid claim at that point in time?
3. Would there be any paper trail we could see to confirm he did access his super for this purpose?
This has been a very messy claim and I just want it gone, but I don't want to pay the worker for something he is not entitled to.
Many thanks.
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