Examining the workplace rights of mental health consumer workers

Abstract

Objective To identify what legal workplace protections are available for the mental health consumer workforce in Australia. Methods Review the available common law and legislative protections to identify the general workforce rights and employer responsibilities in Australia. Results Consumer workforce members enjoy protections under employment law, anti-discrimination law, tort law and work health and safety law. Conclusions Consumer workforce members would benefit from understanding and exercising their rights, whereas employers should have better regard to their obligations under common law and legislation. However, further empirical research is needed to assess whether these legislative and policy frameworks sufficiently protect the rights of consumer workers.

Health Economics and Equity in Preconception Health Care: A Systematic Review

“…7 14 15 16 17 18 Further, poor pregnancy outcomes among disadvantaged women and children include LBW, pre-term birth, infant mortality, and maternal mortality. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Hence, lifelong impacts associated with these poor outcomes are disproportionately experienced by these communities. These populations may receive greater benefit from preconception care, and preconception care may be a means of closing inequality gaps.…”

“…7 8 9 Similarly, the proportion of LBW children increases with increasing remoteness and increasing socioeconomic disadvantage. 8 10 Infant mortality rate can be as high as two times and rates of sudden infant death syndrome can be as high as seven times among First Nations communities when compared with non-First Nations communities. 9 Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities witness higher rates of maternal mortality and adverse infant birth outcomes including stillbirth, pre-term delivery, and perinatal mortality.…”