The re-commencement of weekly compensation payments after a period of maternity leave will depend on whether the employee is still incapacitated for work.
As with all claimant incapacity benefits, consideration should be given to:
-whether incapacity for work still results from the compensable condition; and
-whether there has been a loss of wages. Would the employee have been in the workforce earning?
To re-qualify for payment, the employee must establish that, if not for the compensable condition, she would have returned to the workforce and that it is the compensable condition which prevents the employee from working and not the choice of the employee not to work.
This is also relevant where the employee had some capacity to earn prior to the maternity leave and top up payments were being made.