New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORKPLACE INJURY MANAGEMENT AND WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1998 - SECT 49

49 Employer must provide suitable work

(1) If a worker who has been totally or partially incapacitated for work as a result of an injury is able to return to work (whether on a full-time or part-time basis and whether or not to his or her previous employment), the employer liable to pay compensation to the worker under this Act in respect of the injury must at the request of the worker provide suitable employment for the worker.

(2) The employment that the employer must provide is employment that is both suitable employment (as defined in section 43A of the 1987 Act) and (subject to that qualification) so far as reasonably practicable the same as, or equivalent to, the employment in which the worker was at the time of the injury.

(3) This section does not apply if:

(a) it is not reasonably practicable to provide employment in accordance with this section, or

(b) the worker voluntarily left the employment of that employer after the injury happened (whether before or after the commencement of the incapacity for work), or

(c) the employer terminated the worker’s employment after the injury happened, other than for the reason that the worker was not fit for employment as a result of the injury.

Note: See also Part 7 Chapter 2 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 for provisions for protection of employment of injured workers.