Summary
In Australia it has been necessary to enact specific provisions
into industrial and employment laws to ensure workplace
protection and coverage of police officers because at
common law police officers have not been regarded as
employees. Police unions in Australia have emerged as
strong industrial players and have secured a range of terms
and conditions of employment which do not apply to the
broader workforce. One area not often considered is the
interaction of workers compensation laws and sick leave
entitlements. This paper investigates the entitlements of
Australian police officers to these benefits against the
historical background of industrial laws. It concludes that
there is no uniformity in coverage for workers compensation
and sick leave and that the publicly available data in relation
to absence from work of police officers due to sickness is
generally incomplete and presents challenges for cross-jurisdictional
comparisons.