With new obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 and the High Court’s evolving approach to employer liability in Kozarov v Victoria and Elisha v Vision Australia Ltd, psychological and psychiatric risk has increased. Through a combination of regulatory insight, legal analysis and psychiatric expertise explore how psychosocial risk is identified and managed, the implications of employer duties, legal liability and how psychiatrists assess impairment plus the challenges of expert evidence in these complex claims.
Thursday, 18 June 2026
11.30am to 11.45am Break
11.45am to 12.45pm Psychiatric Injury: A Clinical Perspective
- Navigate the process of psychiatric impairment and related clinical issues
- Gain a practical understanding of the role and challenges of the expert evidence
Presented by Dr Michael Epstein, Psychiatrist, Dr Michael Epstein Psychiatry; Author, The Guide to Civil Pyschiatric Assessment, Member, Medical Panels, Victoria
9.30am to 10.30am Managing and Investigating Psychosocial Risk in the Workplace
Presented by Jodie Fox, Director, Worklogic Consulting
10.30am to 11.30am Psychiatric Injury: Lessons from Kosarov and Elisha
Through this session you will distil the practical implications of the High Court’s decisions in Kozarov v Victoria and Elisha v Vision Australia Ltd, examining how the law of employer liability, psychiatric injury and employment duties continues to evolve.
Presented by Glenn Worth, Barrister, Green’s List
Description
Attend and earn 3 CPD units in Substantive Law
This program is based on VIC legislation
Chair:
Nadia Grech, Legal Counsel, Slater & Gordon; Doyle’s Guide’s Leading Work Injury Compensation Lawyers (Plaintiff) – Victoria, 2025, Chair of the Law Institute of Victoria Workers Compensation Committee, Chair of the Law Institute of the Litigation Lawyers Executive Committee, Member of the Personal Injury Committee for the Law Council of Australia, Appointed to the WorkSafe Advisory Committee (WAC) by the Victorian Government
Presenters
Glenn Worth, Barrister, Green’s List
Glenn is an experienced and skilled barrister in the areas of common law, insurance law, public liability law and personal injuries litigation. Since signing the Bar Roll in November 2010, Glenn has spent countless hours at all levels of the State Court hierarchy, appearing as Counsel in personal injuries matters at Common Law. Glenn specialises in appearing in Common Law damages trials, with a particular interest in negligence cases involving Plaintiffs psychologically injured in the course of their employment.
Dr Michael Epstein, Psychiatrist, Dr Michael Epstein Psychiatry
Dr Michael Epstein is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. He has had extensive clinical experience and was a psychiatrist at Fairlea women’s prison for six years. He was a member of the forensic leave panel at the Thomas Embling Hospital for 21 years and is currently a member of the Medical Panels. He was secretary of the RANZCP and has been a consultant to the West Australian government and the Commonwealth government on mental health issues. He had written three books including “Falling Apart-living with stress breakdown”, “The Savage Club Mystery” and most recently “The Guide to Civil Psychiatric Assessment” (available on Amazon). He is a co-author of the GEPIC and has trained approximately 150 psychiatrists in Victoria and South Australia in its use. He has also trained psychiatrists in the use of the Psychiatric Impairment Rating Scale (the PIRS).
Nadia Grech, Legal Counsel, Slater & Gordon
Nadia is a Law institute of Victoria (LIV) Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law. She is currently the chair of the LIV Litigation Lawyer’s Executive Committee as well as the LIV Workers’ Compensation Committee. She is appointed to the WorkSafe Advisory Committee via the Victorian state government and is a member of the Supreme Court of Victoria Rules’ Committee. Nadia is Legal Counsel at Slater and Gordon Lawyers and prior to becoming a lawyer, was a Chiropractor. Nadia is passionate about the rights of an injured worker and creating safer Australian worksites.
Jodie Fox, Director, Worklogic Consulting
Jodie Fox is an experienced employment lawyer, who specialises in workplace investigations, Workplace Culture Reviews and mediations to address and resolve complaints and foster a positive workplace culture. Jodie keenly understands the need to resolve workplace issues by taking into account strategy, risk, context and policy factors. This comes from her extensive experience in employment law and industrial relations.
