ACC and Australia
We’ve been asked a lot lately about weekly ACC compensation payments when an employee goes on holiday or moves overseas permanently while on compensation.
If a claim was lodged as a workplace claim, having workers based overseas like Australia can cause substantial issues and additional penalties… at no fault of the business. At the off chance the employer is still keeping the job open (which a lot of employers do), then holiday pay is also still accruing.
Call me a splinter butt from sitting on the fence, but the logical and business side of my brain says compensation payments should stop when 1] they’re not in the country anymore; and 2] if they’re well enough to travel, are they well enough to work? The other side of my brain says everyone needs / deserves a holiday.
This is not a blog about stopping compensation for everyone. This is a blog about stopping compensation for those who have experienced a work related incident and where there is a direct impact on the employer (operationally and financially) and who choose to live overseas. The employer has no control or influence over the outcome of that compensation when the employee makes a life choice that effectively can stop them completing their rehabilitation.
ACC’s Experience Rating penalties are based on days lost to weekly compensation and / or any medical costs over $500. The weekly compensation days makes up the bulk of the penalty.
The information I am about to share may result in a face palm (or two), mostly because it just doesn’t make sense. One thing is for sure though – the business owner suffers again.
Weekly compensation is for loss of income due to injury. ACC states that a person injured in NZ is entitled to weekly compensation provided they fit the criteria as set out in the legislation. Ok – fair enough if you need it and fit the criteria and you can’t be at work on light / alternative duties.
To get compensation the employee must produce a “certificate” by a registered health professional (there is quite a list in the ACC regulations). “Certificate” is not listed in the ACC interpretations but is generally considered to be the medical certificate we are sadly too familiar with. There is nothing in the legislation or regulations that say that the health professional needs to be based in New Zealand.
The ACC website states:
“We'll still support you if you're living overseas. You’ll keep getting payments as long as your overseas doctor confirms you need it. Your injury must still prevent you from doing the type of job you would’ve done before you were injured.”
It also states the health provider must issue a new medical certificate every 13 weeks confirming the employee still requires compensation. Note – there are still obligations to fulfil, like going to rehab and coming back to NZ for assessments (travel back at the employees own cost while any travel in NZ for assessments is covered by ACC).
Note the 13 weeks… 3 months… this equates to 1 week holiday pay due. Just saying.
So here’s the issue (not picking on ACC employees here as they do a great job in a difficult situation) - it’s hard enough for an employer to get ACC to do something when the employee ghosts them while still in New Zealand. It’s even harder for an employer to do something when the employee moves overseas. From what I can see in the legislation and the ACC website, as long as an employee is providing a medical certificate every 13 weeks, and they play the game right, they can stay on compensation for a very long time.
What can you do about it? Contact us -
There’s a couple of things that we can do (and we do these a lot)
Log a fraud report (if you think there is fraud going on).
Log an end of employment with ACC which pushes the employee into the vocational rehabilitation pathway
File for review