South Australian Numbered Acts South Australian Numbered Acts25—Recovery/return to work plans
(1) Where it appears that a worker is (or is likely) to be incapacitated for work by a work injury for more than 4 weeks, the Corporation must ensure that a plan (a "recovery/return to work plan") is prepared for the worker.
(2) In connection with subsection (1)—
(a) a recovery/return to work plan may be prepared even if the period of incapacity may be less than 4 weeks; and
(b) a recovery/return to work plan may be prepared for a worker who may not be returning to work in the short or medium term so that the initial focus of the plan is on restoring the worker to the community at the beginning; and
(c) a recovery/return to work plan may be prepared for a worker who has no reasonable prospect of returning to work but where the preparation of a plan would still assist in restoring the worker to the community; and
(d) a recovery/return to work plan need not be prepared for a worker if the Corporation considers that, due to the severity of the injury, the focus should be on other forms of support and services (unless or until the worker becomes capable of participating in a plan).
(3) Subject to taking into account the provisions of subsection (2), a recovery/return to work plan will set out the actions and responsibilities of a worker, an employer and the Corporation that are to be undertaken or assumed in order to achieve the earliest possible safe return to work or, if relevant, to the community on a durable basis.
(4) A recovery/return to work plan may impose obligations on the worker and on the employer (and, in the case of a dispute, will continue to bind the worker and the employer subject to the outcome of any process or procedure associated with determining the dispute).
(5) In preparing a recovery/return to work plan—
(a) consultation must occur with the worker and, insofar as is necessary or appropriate, with the employer out of whose employment the injury arose; and
(b) assistance may be obtained from the relevant return to work co-ordinator (if appointed) and any person who might be providing services under the plan; and
(c) insofar as is reasonably practicable—
(i) medical records relevant to the worker's condition should be reviewed; or
(ii) consultation should occur with any health practitioner who is treating the worker for a relevant injury; and
(d) consultation may occur with any other person or body as the Corporation thinks fit.
(6) A recovery/return to work plan must comply with standards and requirements prescribed by the regulations.
(7) The Corporation must give the worker and the employer a copy of the recovery/return to work plan.
(8) A recovery/return to work plan may be reviewed from time to time.
(9) In connection with the operation of subsection (8), the regulations may—
(a) specify when a recovery/return to work plan should be reviewed; and
(b) prescribe procedures to be followed when a recovery/return to work plan is being reviewed.
(10) Without limiting subsections (8) and (9), if—
(a) a worker who has been incapacitated for work in consequence of a work injury has not, at the expiration of the period of 6 months from the date on which the incapacity for work first occurred, returned to work in employment that is the same as, or equivalent to, the employment in which the worker was employed immediately before the incapacity; and
(b) the worker is not working to his or her full capacity (after taking into account the nature and effect of the worker's work injury and any other relevant factor),
new or other employment options for the worker need to be taken into account in order to assist the worker to return to work in suitable employment.
(11) A plan under this section must not impose any obligation on a seriously injured worker to return to work (but may include processes designed to assist a seriously injured worker to return to work at the request of the worker).