Employer compliance with rehabilitation

This study reports on the level of employer compliance with the current rehabilitation legislation in New South Wales. The sample was selected to be representative across industries, geographical location and size of employer. The results of this survey, based on 612 responses, were compared with the employer survey (93 responses) conducted by Kenny in the Hunter region of NSW. The findings indicate that there is a high level of awareness of and compliance with the current rehabilitation legislation among employers. However, the level of compliance is strongly related to the size of employer; those with fewer than 20 employees were much less likely to comply than employers with more than 20 employees. Employers of all sizes were more likely to adopt a rehabilitation program issued by the insurer than to develop their own program, indicating that employers are compliant with, rather than committed to, occupational rehabilitation. Strategies that directly assess the needs of small employers should be developed to facilitate better management of workplace injury.