No pain, no gain – Tribunal rules that incapacity is a requirement for a Section 18 application

The South Australian Employment Tribunal has handed down another favourable decision for employers relating to Section 18 of the Return to Work Act 2014 (SA) – the section that allows injured workers to apply to the Tribunal for an order requiring the pre-injury employer to provide “suitable employment”. In Coleman-Sleep v Return to Work SA [2021] SAET 144, Judge Rossi dismissed a Section 18 application by a worker, Ms Coleman-Sleep, as she had no ongoing incapacity for work. Judge Rossi followed the earlier decision of Judge Crawley in Roberts v Department for Education [2021] SAET 56.  Significant legal points arising from the judgment include: Section 18 requires workers to have an incapacity for work by reason of the injury - both at the time of application and at the time of the proposed order of the Tribunal. In considering whether employment sought is “suitable”, the Tribunal will consider things such as the…