Requests for weekly payments must be supported by medical evidence of incapacity for employment.
This could be in the form of a medical certificate or medical report. The medical certificate:
- Must clearly state the medical cause of the incapacity, and/or list all conditions contributing to it (Note: Naturally to be valid for MRCC purposes the certificate must include the compensable injury as one of those causative factors).
- Must clearly state the degree of incapacity, for instance wholly incapacitated for all work, or partly incapacitated for all work or capable of work with some restrictions. If only partly incapacitated, the certificate should indicate the residual capacity i.e. in terms of daily hours and or days per week. If capable of some work but with restrictions, those restrictions should be clearly specified, for example 'no bending or stooping' or 'no lifting more than 10kgs' etc.
- Must specify the period of the incapacity i.e. contain both the start and end date of the period certified. Open-ended certificates and those claiming the person is 'incapacitated indefinitely' or 'totally and permanently incapacitated' are not acceptable.
- Must identify the doctor in addition to a signature (i.e. an indecipherable signature is not sufficient identification) and the address, phone or contact details of that doctor.
- Must contain the date that the doctor examined the person.
There is a standard MRCC form of medical certificate of incapacity, which provides for all of the above. This form should be provided to the person with the incapacity claim form for his/her doctor to complete.
A further medical certificate form should be forwarded with any determination granting weekly payments for a period, i.e. for use in certifying any further period or continuation of the existing period of incapacity.
'Workcover' style medical certificates i.e. those devised for State workers compensation Acts also provide for all the information required and delegates may advise the person or their doctor that, properly completed, these certificates are also acceptable in lieu of our own medical certificate.
Important note: Delegates should not make weekly payments for incapacity, unless or until a satisfactory medical certificate is received.