{"id":526391,"date":"2026-03-08T08:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T08:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/526391\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T08:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T08:40:14","slug":"injured-and-unwell-victorian-teachers-say-workcover-claim-delays-are-making-them-sicker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/526391\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured and unwell Victorian teachers say WorkCover claim delays are making them sicker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NicoleSave<\/p>\n

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Stephanie Jandula had endured months of violent student attacks \u2013 headbutting, biting, kicking \u2013 but when one stomped on her head, things unravelled.<\/p>\n

On her way home, the Warringa Park School teacher blacked out and drove into her garage door, and she required a stay in hospital.<\/p>\n

\"TeacherTeacher Stephanie Jandula hasn\u2019t worked since 2023 due to a psychosocial injury.Jason South<\/p>\n

It resulted in an arduous back-and-forth for a WorkCover claim, which was granted in 2016.<\/p>\n

Jandula returned to work at the Hoppers Crossing specialist school in 2018 but put in another claim for a psychosocial injury in May 2023, which was denied because it was treated as an exacerbation of the first claim.<\/p>\n

She ultimately managed to get the second claim approved, but says the fight further hurt her mental health. Since 2023, she\u2019s been off work. She currently doesn\u2019t have a return to work plan for the K-12 school.<\/p>\n

Since March 2024, Victorian workers are not eligible for compensation for stress or burnout as a result of \u201cusual or typical\u201d duties \u2013 which teachers say means it has become much harder for them to be fairly compensated for bullying, overwork and stress claims. As The Age reported in August,\u00a0 workers\u2019 claims for mental health compensation were being rejected at double<\/a> the rate they were before the state government tightened eligibility requirements.<\/p>\n

\"TeachersTeachers say long waits for WorkCover claims has delayed treatment and exacerbated mental health problems.<\/p>\n

Teachers also worry whether a proposal for a WorkSafe code of claimant\u2019s rights, which will be released in April for public consultation, will be legally enforceable.<\/p>\n

The Age has spoken with three women working in education who are on WorkCover who have waited months for conciliation or to have their cases heard by the system\u2019s medical panel.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Teachers<\/a><\/p>\n

The teachers said their long waits for approval delayed their treatment, which exacerbated their problems or created secondary psychological injuries.<\/p>\n

More than 30,000 Victorian workers submit injury claims annually. Anyone whose claim is denied can go to the Workplace Injury Commission for a review and dispute resolution, a process which can end up going before a court. WorkCover Assist and Union Assist services provide free support to help workers navigate the process.<\/p>\n

If an employee is found to be unable to work, they will get 95 per cent of pre-injury average weekly earnings for 13 weeks, with the payment reducing after that time.<\/p>\n

In the 2023-24 financial year, slips and trips accounted for 28 per cent of accepted claims for the education sector, with mental injury at 27 per cent. Body stress injuries accounted for 18 per cent of claims, according to WorkSafe\u2019s annual report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In WorkSafe\u2019s 2024-25 annual report<\/a>, it committed to funding research because of an escalating problem of work-related violence in the public education sector.<\/p>\n

Arnold Thomas & Becker principal lawyer Joseph Ridley said the WorkCover changes had hit teachers particularly hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many ways, it has never been harder for a worker in Victoria to access their statutory entitlements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new WorkCover changes are failing teachers and educators. The new \u2018mental injury\u2019 and \u2018usual or typical duties\u2019 tests strip away supports that these workers need access to now more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ridley said changes to the system allowed claims agents to make hurried factual judgments on whether employees suffered from \u201ctraumatic events\u201d, often without appropriate medical or investigative material.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing that unlike for what WorkCover calls \u2018frontline workers\u2019, teachers and educators start on the back foot in trying to show how their trauma matters too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dominique Elliott, of Chirnside Park, said the WorkCover claims process needed an overhaul. She is concerned about third parties taking advantage of the system or injured workers left languishing for months or over a year waiting for treatment.<\/p>\n

\"LawyersLawyers and advocates say new WorkCover changes are failing teachers and educators.Penny Stephens<\/p>\n

Once a national programs manager in independent education, Elliott now struggles to leave the house and has been on WorkCover since June 2022. The 54-year-old said she experienced bullying and physical attacks at a charity that provided education support for disadvantaged children and young people. The charity has since closed.<\/p>\n

Elliott said she has PTSD and anxiety. Although her claim was accepted, after 18 months, the insurer stopped approving some treatments, despite practitioners saying she\u2019d benefit from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like being on a never-ending train or roller coaster. It\u2019s up and down constantly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jane Butler received workers\u2019 compensation after a bullying incident at a primary school she taught at resulted in a psychosocial injury. Once she recovered, all she wanted to do was to get back to work.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s like being on a never-ending train or roller coaster. It\u2019s up and down constantly.\u2019<\/p>\n

Dominique Elliott has been on WorkCover since 2022<\/p>\n

However, an inadequate return-to-work plan meant she is still out of work. She said the process was so drawn out and challenging, it worsened her mental health. Although she\u2019d love to be working, Butler said she was still without a return-to-work plan.<\/p>\n

Professor Alex Collie of Monash University, the chief investigator in the Worker\u2019s Voice research study, said teachers were exposed to a larger range of risks to their mental health than workers in many other jobs,<\/a> due to stress, burnout and students or teachers lashing out.<\/p>\n

A 2024 OECD teaching and learning survey found more than 80 per cent of teachers in lower secondary and primary schools in Australia reported their job negatively affected their mental health and 64.6 per cent experienced high levels of workplace stress, compared to 43.4 per cent in other OECD countries.<\/p>\n

Collie said since December 1, new regulations meant employers had to control risks to ensure their workplace was safe, not just physically but also psychosocially. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

At the same time, he said, governments had made it more difficult for workers to receive compensation and rehabilitation for significant mental health problem they experienced at work.<\/p>\n

He said people who made mental health claims tended to be quite sick when they did and the process of applying for compensation could exacerbate existing problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe workers\u2019 comp scheme was designed in the mid-1980s originally to deal predominantly with physical injury work … the nature of work has changed significantly,\u201d Collie said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"We<\/a><\/p>\n

Independent Education Union Victoria general secretary David Brear said more school staff were forced to rely on income protection insurance when they experienced burnout and stress at work, \u201ca deeply unfair situation to put an injured worker in\u201d. <\/p>\n

Monash University research<\/a> found secondary psychological injuries can arise during a compensation claim from uncertainty around processes, financial pressures and unclear recovery expectations. The research recommends avoiding repetitive assessments.<\/p>\n

Vasalia Govender, an advocate for injured workers, has 565 members in her Injured Workers Support Team \u2013 32 of them educators \u2013 and said legitimate claims were being rejected on technical or procedural grounds. <\/p>\n

\u201cInjured workers are calling for a system that is transparent, consistent and focused on early assistance and recovery,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

WorkSafe said that last financial year, it provided support to more than 109,000 workers and supported more than 26,000 injured workers return to work. A spokesperson said that between January 2021 and October 2025, inspectors conducted 641 workplace visits in the education sector to address psychosocial hazards.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one chooses to suffer an injury or illness at work and WorkSafe is making sure injured workers including, those in the education sector, get the best chance of recovery,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

WorkSafe has established Return to Work Victoria with a $50 million investment to work with partners and the community to find new and innovative ways to reduce the adverse health and social impacts associated with people being disconnected from work long term.<\/p>\n

The Department of Education said the health and wellbeing of government school staff was the government\u2019s priority, and it had invested $63.8 million over four years to improve it.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Australian<\/a><\/p>\n

A spokesperson said for privacy reasons, the department couldn\u2019t comment on individual matters.<\/p>\n

Victoria\u2019s 2025-26 budget included investing $9.3 million in a Keeping School Staff Safe from Violence initiative, which includes a return to work program, and expanding an early intervention program for school staff at risk of mental injury.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"NicoleNicole Precel<\/a> is an education reporter at The Age. She was previously an audio video producer. She is also a documentary maker. Get in touch at nicole.precel@theage.com.auConnect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-526391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}