[Photo: FILE]

Medical cover for injured seasonal workers is under scrutiny.

Concerns have been raised that workers may not fully understand their medical and compensation rights when injured overseas.

Australian Workers Union representative Latileta Gaga says an injury at work should trigger a clear process.

“That certificate is important because it can establish whether the injury is work-related and set out the treatment, referrals and appointments required.”

Gaga says workers should not be left to navigate that process alone.

WorkCover, she points out, provides a separate form of protection from ordinary private medical insurance.

It is intended to deal with expenses linked to a workplace injury.

That distinction, according to Gaga, matters because workers may have different types of insurance and different levels of medical cover.

Gaga says workers need to know exactly what their policy covers before they leave their country.

She says they should also be able to question the level of cover and ask for additional protection where necessary.

The warning comes against a wider backdrop of concerns about the health and welfare of Pacific workers overseas. Australia says PALM workers have the same workplace rights and protections as Australian workers, with additional measures intended to support their wellbeing.

But Gaga says rights only have value if workers understand them and feel confident enough to use them.

“For workers who are already under pressure to secure employment overseas, that can be a difficult position.”

Gaga states employers should not be able to rely on a worker’s lack of understanding.

The concern also extends beyond medical insurance.

Gaga says farms and glasshouses are workplaces and must meet workplace health and safety requirements.

If a worker raises a safety concern and nothing changes, she is urging them to report it again rather than accept the situation.

The issue is particularly important for Pacific islanders working under labour mobility programs in Australia and New Zealand.

Fiji is a participating country in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, which places workers in seasonal and longer-term jobs.

She is also taking the issue into a national consultative process focused on the health and wellbeing of seasonal workers.

Gaga says she will raise concerns affecting workers, particularly women, at the committee’s next meeting in October.