EML TMF says online surveillance of injured workers is ‘relatively common’

A Fire and Rescue NSW policy of conducting surveillance on workers with psychological injuries resulted in its insurer contracting a private investigations firm that trawled through the social media accounts of one worker’s 15-year-old daughter, an icare review of the case found.

The scathing customer advocate report on the treatment of Matthew U’Brien, obtained by the Herald , concluded there was “no rationale” for the surveillance despite a senior manager at Fire and Rescue’s insurer, EML, describing the so-called “desktop review” of his online presence as a “relatively common report”, which was “seen as having no risk to the worker”.

Surveillance of injured workers came under scrutiny on Tuesday when a parliamentary inquiry into the government’s contentious workers’ compensation ref