Guppy v Australian Postal Corporation [2013] FCA 489

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Guppy v Australian Postal Corporation [2013] FCA 489 Citation: Guppy v Australian Postal Corporation [2013] FCA 489

Appeal from: Guppy and Australian Postal Corporation [2012] AATA 806

Parties: PATRICIA GUPPY v AUSTRALIAN POSTAL CORPORATION

File number: QUD 770 of 2012

Judge: LOGAN J

Date of judgment: 8 May 2013

Catchwords: WORKERS COMPENSATION – appeal from Administrative Appeals Tribunal – employee injured in a work-place injury sought compensation under the Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth) – employer accepted liability for injury but declined the applicant compensation because the employee had not reached the threshold level of Whole Person Impairment (WPI) under the approved Guide to the Assessment of Permanent Impairment (2nd ed, 2005) – where an arthroplasty had been performed – where employee also suffered an upper extremity impairment for abnormal motion – whether employee's permanent impairment should be calculated by determining a WPI rating for abnormal shoulder movement, separately determining a WPI rating for the arthroplasty, and then combining those two ratings to obtain a final WPI rating – or whether the permanent impairment should be calculated by firstly combining the upper extremity impairments arising from both the abnormal shoulder movement and the arthroplasty, and then calculating a single WPI rating Held: the former calculation is correct

Legislation: Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1976 (Cth) s 44 Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth) ss 14, 24, 27, 28, 67

Cases cited: Canute v Comcare (2006) 226 CLR 535 considered Comcare v Ticsay (1992) 38 FCR 181 considered Project Blue Sky Inc v Australian Broadcasting Authority (1998) 194 CLR 355 considered Whiteman v Australian Postal Corporation (2011) 199 FCR 433 distinguished Whittaker v Comcare (1998) 86 FCR 532 considered