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My friend’s daughter, 22yrs old, has epilepsy. She is on medication and under specialists but sometimes she still has seizures. She is currently on Newstart and looking for work but not having much luck because of the seizure issue. Two weeks ago she had an appointment for a job seeker interview. At 8.30am she had a seizure and at 10.00am, after the ambulance left, her sister phoned Centrelink to explain what happened and why she couldn’t attend. It usually takes her a few days to be mobile enough to get to the doctors to get a certificate. So, on the Friday she went to the docs and took the certificate in the day after the Monday public holiday.
Consequently, even though she has a certificate and it is noted on her file that she suffers from epilepsy, she was told that as a result of her not attending the initial interview, she must undertake 20 hours of community service. No amount of explaining and proof meant anything. They have, in their twisted wisdom, decided that she is not eligible for sickness benefits because the seizures are not constant. But when she has them is not able to do anything for a week or more because of the impact they have on her.
She started the community work on Monday and found out she was working with a whole lot of court ordered people who had been charged with offences and this was their punishment. Consequently, she is now deeply depressed and feeling hopeless.
What on earth is going on here. I personally know of someone with 2 adult children who are both drug addicts and yet they don’t even have to report to Centrelink. They automatially get their sickness benefits.
I’m so angry for this young woman’s situation. It pains me to see her so distressed and all because someone deigns to think it is ok to punish a person for being unwell.
We got to the bottom of it after a couple of hours on the phone together.
It appears the medical certificate, certified by a qualified medical practitioner, was not acceptable. It had to be on a "Centrelink" medical certificate. At no stage was she advised of this, even after she submitted it. So it was rejected by Centrelink, who failed to advise her of this and so her job seeker agency then marked her as "failed to meet requirements". Consequently, they insisted she undertake the exercise of "community work" as a penalty for "failing" to supply a relevant medical certificate and not showing up for her job seeker appointment. Terribly inconsiderate of her to have a seizure instead of attending the meeting.
She will now go back to the drs and get a "Centrelink" medical certificate and will submit one to Centrelink and one to her job seeking organisation.
This situation is appalling, On speaking with the Centrelink social worker, it is obvious that these job agencies are all too powerful. At the whim of one person they can override Centrelink with their decisions. It took a good 2 hours to sort this out with the Centrelink social worker commenting continually as she changed things on her system, "that's wrong" and "that's wrong" and "they should have done this and not that". The agencies are a private company contracted by the government. How have they been given so much power. The social worker even commented that they just have to sight someone and check the box to ensure they get paid and aren't always interested in the person concerned.
Makes you wonder about all the people who are wronged who don't have support.
Thanks for all your advice and hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here. I'm a bit of a terrer when a see an obvious injustice.
