Morning, my husband has recently had a turn (collapsed) and now going through lots of test he’s now having brain scans to check if they can identify seizures. My question is can he get off from his job while going through all this of is he ok while he’s got Drs certificate. Thank you maybe someone might know the answer we forgot to ask while at specialists the other day. He’s in the trucking industry and been told even if results are all clear he still can’t drive for 3 months if they do find anything on tests his truck license will be gone for 5-10 years. Hope it all makes scenes & have a lovely day 🌻
9 Replies
It would all depend on the type of employment and contract he has with them and also the company itself. If he's casual (truck drivers are not normally casual) they will have no obligation to keep him on. If he's permanent they will have to give him time off while he finds out what's going on, he won't be allowed to drive again until he's been given the all clear. If he doesn't get given the all clear then unfortunately he could lose his job. But if they're a good company with room to spare he may be offered a job in the yard or the office. Example one of my mates broke his leg so the company he worked for offered him yard supervisor. I'm not sure how compo works if they leave him in the ditch but hopefully he's eligible.
If he's permanent: Under Fair Work rules, he can be terminated for illness after a certain period of time (I think it's 12 months or more).
You should check to see if he has income protection insurance through his Super and start that process, there's a wait time for it.
His Dr will be the one to decide when (if) he can drive again.
If he is cleared to work but NOT drive for a certain period, the employer is obligated to find him another job that he can do until he can return to full duties.
If he's never allowed to drive again, then the employer is obligated to TRY to redeploy him to a new job within the company, but if they can prove there is nothing available, then they can terminate (medically retire) him.
If he is diagnosed with any seizure disorder, it's likely he will never be allowed to hold a HR license ever again.
It's almost certainly not going to be worker's comp at all, unless he was exposed to something at work that caused the seizure.
One of our staff had a seizure, diagnosed with epliepsy, and his whole license was automatically suspended for 3 years, and that 3 years re-starts with each new seizure.
There should be a nominated Return to Work person at the workplace, or via national HR if it's a big company, ask his boss to put you in touch with them to ask all the questions :-)
The time frame for license after seizure is usually 6 months
HR Is different in NSW
On the website for Service NSW;
If you drive a commercial vehicle (such as a truck, bus, taxi or hire car) and have epilepsy:
you generally need to be free of seizures for 10 years to be issued a licence
your licence also needs to be reviewed each year by a specialist in epilepsy.
Nope, I wasn't talking about truck licence, I was talking about your workmate who lost their licence for 3 years and starts again every seizure. It is normally 6 months. I was just pointing that out so OP didn't freak out.
Original commenter: we're in QLD.
maybe there are different rules, or maybe it's case by case dependant on medical condition. I just know that was 3 years 🤷♀️
It might have something to do with medication, if your workmate refused medication that might be why he had to wait so long. With medication it's usually 6 months.
Just in case nothing shows up, My girl has reactive seizures meaning there needs to be an underlying cause and the seizures is actually making sure her heart doesn’t stop. These do not show up on scans after the fact. But about a week before there is a pattern where if a trigger presents a seizure will occur.
With every seizure no driving for 12 months (not of driving age yet)
We have an employee who had to be stood down because of a tumour.
Knowing what we know for our girl it is unsafe to have them in operation of a vehicle, we didn’t have anything else for him unfortunately.
We have contemplated an apprentice, but if something happens we are ultimately responsible at the end of the day and that is a heavy load to carry for the unknown.
All the best