The Effects Of Resignation
Like redundancy, resignation will usually have an affect on an employee's incapacity entitlement.
The same guidelines apply as for redundancy. The following will need to be assessed:
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what the employee was capable of earning and in what occupation, at the date of resignation;
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what are suitable duties for the employee; and
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the employee's ability to earn in suitable employment.
However, as resignation is a voluntary decision made by the employee to separate from his or her employment, suitable employment is regarded as any employment, not only Commonwealth employment.
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Case Law |
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“In Comcare v Rawling (1993) it was held that resignation for the personal reasons of moving to Adelaide did not excuse the employer from making an offer of employment. |
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O'Loughlin formed the view that the act of resignation and the move to Adelaide were matters that Comcare were entitled to take into consideration for the purpose of assessing whether they were 'relevant' (s 19 (4) (g)). |
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However, in this particular case, the “act of resignation and the movement interstate ... did not in any way inhibit Ms Rawling's employer from making a genuine offer of suitable employment - perhaps at her original place of employment - perhaps at some other location. |
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If, because of her personal circumstances, Ms Rawling being medically fit to accept the offer unreasonably rejected it, then her compensatory entitlements would be at risk of being eroded in the manner contemplated by s 19 (4) (b)”.” |
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Annotated Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988, 2nd Edition |
In this case, had the Commonwealth offered the employee employment in her original city, and had she then not taken up the offer, that may have been considered as unreasonably refusing employment.
Source URL: https://clik.dva.gov.au/military-compensation-reference-library/historical-information/comcare-operations-manual/volume-ten-incapacity-payments/part-seven-redundancy-and-resignation/effects-resignation