- Title
- The return-to-work policy for injured and diseased workers
- Creator
- Keti, Nosicelo
- Subject
- Employees -- Rehabilitation -- South Africa
- Subject
- Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa Workers' compensation Industrial accidents
- Date Issued
- 2018
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- LLM
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/31064
- Identifier
- vital:31307
- Description
- Despite measures undertaken by employers in promoting safety in the workplace, employees become injured or diseased due to work related accidents. When an employee sustains a work related injury or disease that results in their short term or prolonged absence from work, it becomes crucial for the employer to return the injured or diseased employee back to work as quickly as possible. Returning employees back to work as early as possible becomes an important factor in reducing worker’s compensation costs. In South Africa, unlike developed countries like the United Kingdom, there is still a lack or absence of rehabilitation, reintegration and RTW programmes. The lack or absence of suitable rehabilitation, reintegration and RTW programmes that not only ensure that an injured or diseased employee is returned to work, but further enable such injured or diseased employee to attain, keep and progress in employment often results in employees becoming dependent on disability grants or social welfare payments. There is recognition that some effort is required to ensure that employees who have been affected by work related injuries or diseases are returned to gainful employment. The Committee of Inquiry into a Comprehensive System of Social Security for South Africa, in 2002, highlighted that “modern social protection policy making is no longer therapeutic but also pre-emptive and restorative or rehabilitative in nature”. The study investigated the need for the South African government and business to adopt and implement programmes or systems that are targeted at correcting or restoring the damage. This can be achieved through retraining, re-skilling and social integration of the injured or diseased employees. The findings indicate that despite recognition by the Compensation of Occupational Injuries and Disease Act (COIDA) of the need to establish and implement appropriate rehabilitation, reintegration and RTW programmes, such programmes have still not been established in South Africa. There are, however, initiatives directed towards the establishment and implementation of these programmes and these are found in the proposed COIDA amendment Bill which prioritises rehabilitation, reintegration and RTW. Proposed in the Bill, is the imposition of incentives for those employers who successfully implement rehabilitation, reintegration and RTW programmes within their workplaces and penalties against those who fail to comply with the provisions of the proposed Bill. Another relief can be seen in the form of the Road Accident Benefit Scheme (RABS) Bill, which will soon replace the Road Accident Fund (RAF). Unlike the RAF, which is primarily concerned about the compensation of road accident victims through lump sum payments, RABS will particularly focus on rehabilitation and vocational training and will offer payments in a structured manner to not only ensure the continual financial support of the accident victims, but further that the proposed scheme remains sustainable in the long term. Further findings are that although the Constitution of the v Republic of South Africa has adopted an international law friendly approach and the Bill of Rights is in support of the implementation of RTW measures, South African law is not aligned to international and regional standards. South Africa has still not ratified international instruments that promote the early return of injured or diseased employees back to work. In conclusion, South Africa needs to adopt and implement rehabilitation, reintegration and RTW measures or programmes for injured or diseased workers in order to address the high unemployment rate, poverty and dependence on State funded social assistance services.
- Format
- v, 87 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Law
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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NMU Department of Mercantile Law
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | NOSICELO KETI.pdf | 593 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |