iCare must come clean on reimbursement to sick and injured workers Unions have welcomed iCare's decision to reimburse 53,000 underpaid sick and injured workers but questioned why the scandal-ridden insurer is forcing claimants to jump through bureaucratic hoops if they want a further review of their payments. iCare will pay out $38 million to the workers after a review determined that 3.5 per cent of the cases examined were underpaid. "iCare's incompetence has inflamed trauma for people who were already suffering from illness or injury sustained at work," said Mark Morey, Secretary of Unions NSW. "We welcome this decision to repay sick and injured workers, but it should never have gotten to this point. "iCare must now provide a transparent briefing to explain how it arrived at this decision. This is hardly an organisation that can be taken at its word. iCare executives, who are better known for receiving fat bonuses, must detail their methodology. "iCare must also err on the side of accepting further claims from people who have been underpaid. There may be many thousands more sick and injured workers whose underpayments have not been captured by this review. Rather than making them jump through bureaucratic hoops, iCare needs to give them the benefit of the doubt. "This entire saga should prompt a fundamental rethink of how this State treats sick and injured workers. Many of these people have broken backs or been terrorised with violence at work. Instead of supporting them, iCare has often compounded their trauma. "We will continue to campaign on this issue. The system remains broken and needs to be fixed so that sick and injured workers are not forced to again carry the cost of Government incompetence." Mark Morey 0425 231 812
Nick Lucchinelli 0422 229 032
