Process to Ill Health Retire a TAFE Institute Based Employee
Central Office, Institute Responsibility
Step 1 / Review all available information to determine whether the ill health retirement of an employee is appropriate and the three ill health retirement criteria have been fully met.
Three criteria for ill health retirement:
1. Appropriate rehabilitation interventions, reasonable adjustment and medical deployment options have been fully explored and documented.
2. A medical report by an independent medical specialist for an assessment conducted within the last 12 months, that meets the requirements of a medical report under section 177 of the PSA has been obtained either:
§ through the Department directing an employee to an Independent Medical Examination in accordance with the Management of Staff Medical Examinations Policy and Procedure; or
§ from QSuper, where an employee has given written consent for its use in considering Ill Health Retirement. (Note: WorkCover reports can not be used for ill health retirement purposes.)
3. The medical report by an independent medical specialist states that the employee is not able to undertake their substantive position or any other position permanently or for the foreseeable future, due to the nature and extent of the illness/disability.
Step 2 / Prepare a memo to the Director, Organisational Health Unit, recommending an employee’s ill health retirement using “Attachment 2”.
Memo must include:
· details of the employee’s medical background, including any compensable injuries;
· workplace rehabilitation history;
· an explanation of how the three ill health retirement criteria (detailed in Step 1) have been met;
· an outline of the other options available to the Director, Organisational Health Unit, besides ill health retirement; and
· all documents used to make an ill health retirement recommendation.
Step 3 / Prepare a letter to the employee using form letter “Attachment 3” or “Attachment 8”, for the Director, Organisational Health Unit to sign, advising them of the Director’s proposal to ill health retire them. This letter must provide the employee with the opportunity to provide additional information explaining why they should not be ill health retired.
Step 4 / Memo (including supporting documentation) and letter are forwarded by email to the Senior Human Resource Consultant (Injury Management) Organisational Health Unit.
Central Office Organisational Health Unit Responsibility
Step 5 / Create a TRIM container in 240/7 (Year- IHR – Surname, First Name, employee number). Save the Memo as a Memo/Minute the Letter as an Outgoing Initiated and the supporting documentation as attachments (reference materials).
Organisational Health Unit reviews the memo and letter, saves the documentation into TRIM and moves the record to the Director, Organisational Health Unit for signature.
Access controls should be given to the following Central Office personnel:
· Executive Officer OH WM&S
· Principal Human Resources Consultant 02 OH WM&S
· Senior Rehabilitation Consultant OH WM&S
· Correspondence Officer WM&S HR
· Director Organisational Health WM&S
The Memo (including supporting documentation) and letter are saved into the TRIM container and moved to the Executive Officer, Organisational Health Unit, who will allocate the request to an Injury Management Team officer for review and forwarding to the Director, Organisational Health Unit.
Step 6 / The documentation is moved in TRIM to the Director, Organisational Health Unit for approval and signature.
Step 7 / The Director, Organisational Health Unit considers the memo and;
1. Proposes to ill health retire the employee and sends, via registered mail, the letter “Attachment 3” or “Attachment 8” to the employee (allowing the employee a final opportunity to explain why they should not be ill health retired); OR
2. Decides not to ill health retire the employee and sends letter “Attachment 4” to the employee. If the decision is made not to ill health retire the employee, the case is returned to the relevant region for ongoing management of the employee, along with an explanation as to why the ill health retirement has not been supported. The ill health retirement process then ceases.
Step 8 / Employee doesn’t respond to the letter (Attachment 3 or Attachment 8).
Organisational Health Unit, Central Office, prepares a letter for signature of the Director, Organisational Health Unit, using form letter “Attachment 5”, advising the employee that their ill health retirement has been processed and advising of the date of retirement. (Attachment 3 or Attachment 8).
An email is sent to the Senior Claims Officer, Organisational Health Unit advising them of the proposed IHR effective date. / Employee responds to the letter
(Attachment 3 or Attachment 11)
The Director, Organisational Health, with the assistance of the Organisational Health Unit, Central Office, considers the employee’s response and makes a decision on whether ill health retirement should proceed and on what date.
If the Director, Organisational Health Unit decides to proceed with ill health retirement, the Senior Human Resources Consultant (Injury Management) prepares a letter using “Attachment 6” advising that the ill health retirement will be proceeding and advising of the date it will take effect. This letter is then moved in TRIM to the Director, Organisational Health Unit for approval and signature.
If it is decided not to proceed with the ill health retirement, the employee is referred back to their Institute for ongoing management, along with an explanation as to why the ill health retirement has not been supported. The Director, Organisational Health Unit will advise the employee of this decision in writing using “Attachment 4”. The ill health retirement process then ceases.
The Organisational Health Unit will notify the Institute Director that the ill health retirement is not proceeding and recommend the Institute Director meet with the employee to discuss a more appropriate course of action.
Step 9 / Attachment 5” or “Attachment 6” are prepared and forwarded to the Director, Organisational Health Unit for signature. The letter is distributed to:
· the Employee via registered mail;
· the Institute;
· Payroll to process the ill health retirement and send a separation certificate to QSuper; and
· The correspondence is returned in TRIM to the Organisational Health Unit
Step 10 / If the employee is registered as a Teacher, the file is referred to the Director, Workplace Relations, to determine whether the Queensland College of Teachers needs to be notified of the ill health retirement.
Step 11 / Payroll processes the ill health retirement and sends a separation certificate to QSuper.
Criteria to be considered before approving an Ill Health Retirement
The following criteria must be considered before approving an ill health retirement effective date. These are:
1. If the injury is the subject of an accepted WorkCover claim, the Department must not dismiss the employee within 12 months of the date of work injury, if the reason for the dismissal is because the employee is not fit for employment because of the work injury (section 232B of the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003).
2. The Department cannot dismiss an employee if they have been absent on unpaid leave as a result of 1 or more injuries for fewer than 3 months within a 1 year period (section 5 of the Industrial Relations Regulation 2000).
Setting an Ill Health Retirement Effective Date
When setting a date it must be consistent with the following minimum periods of notice:
a. If the employee’s continuous service is less than 1 year – 1 weeks notice
b. If the employee’s continuous service is more than 1 year, but less than 3 years – 2 weeks notice
c. If the employee’s continuous service is more than 3 years, but less than 5 years – 3 weeks notice
d. If the employee’s continuous service is more than 5 years – 4 weeks notice
The period of notice must also be increased by 1 week if the employee is 45 years old or over and has completed at least 2 years continuous service (section 84 of the Industrial Relations Act 1999).
QSuper and Ill Health Retirement
Many employees undergoing an ill health retirement process with the Department may also be undergoing a similar process with QSuper to consider whether they are entitled to a permanent disability benefit. It is a common misunderstanding that these two processes are the same. When providing support to an employee it is important to ensure they are aware that while there are similarities, these are two separate processes being undertaken by two different organisations.
The Department is able to use a QSuper medical report to ill health retire an employee if.
2. The employee has provided written consent for the report to be used for Part 7 purposes (“Attachment 1” is used to obtain this consent);
3. The report is from an independent doctor ; and
4. The report addresses the requirements of section 177 of the Public Service Act 2008, namely that the doctor has given an opinion on:
a. Whether the employee has an illness or disability that may adversely affect their performance;
b. The likely direct or indirect effect of the illness or disability on the employee’s performance; and
c. An estimate of how long the illness or disability or its effects are likely to last; and
d. Whether or not disclosing the information in the report to the employee might be prejudicial to the employee’s mental or physical health or wellbeing.
Using a QSuper medical report for Part 7 purposes will help reduce the number of independent medical examinations an employee is required to attend, but only if the above three conditions have been met.
In addition, where possible the Department should support aligning the notification period for an ill health retirement with the date that the employee’s income protection benefits will expire and/or the dates for accessing a disability benefit from QSuper, if requested by the employee.
However, ill health retirement effective dates are not to be extended for more than 3 months beyond the minimum period of notice or more than 6 months from the date of the medical report, whichever is the shorter period.
Uncontrolled copy. Refer to the Department of Education, Training and Employment Policy and Procedure Register at http://ppr.det.qld.gov.au to ensure you have the most current version of this document. Page 3 of 3