ARTICLE · 22 SEPTEMBER 2014

Return to Work Bill 2014 - A modified return to common law action in South Australia

Sparke Helmore Lawyers

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The new Bill makes provision for employees to take common law action against employers for negligently caused injuries.

AustraliaEmployment and HR

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The South Australian Government's new Return to Work Bill 2014, allowing access to common law damages for the first time since 1992, represents a swinging back of the "tort law reform" pendulum.

In the late 1990s and in the early part of the next decade, governments around Australia made changes to compensation schemes spurred on by rising insurance premiums and cost blow-outs.

In 2002 federal, state and territory governments appointed a "Panel of Eminent Persons" to review the law of negligence, known as the Ipp Review. Following that review, every Australian jurisdiction enacted significant tort law reforms to implement its recommendations.

Perhaps because of this, the proposed SA changes have attracted national attention.

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