A personal injury lawyer with 23 years' experience has, at
the inquiry into the NSW workers' compensation scheme,
virtually lampooned claims that WorkCover's $4.1 billion
deficit is linked to an "explosion" in damages claims and
a lump-sum culture.
Tim Concannon, a NSW Law Society injury compensation committee
member and a Carroll and O'Dea partner, told the inquiry this
week that the vast majority of injured workers "express an
abhorrence" at the idea of obtaining a lump sum instead of
returning to work.
He said actuarial assessments that found there was a lump-sum
culture appeared to be based on decade-old projections that ignored
2001 amendments to workers' compensation laws that
"significantly" removed access to such payouts.
