ACT foster carers have welcomed a decision that would consider them as workers in some circumstances.
The decision would allow for the WorkSafe ACT to act on behalf of carers should they need to lodge bullying complaints, claim workplace compensation or claim medical expenses as a result of violent children.
While the work health and safety watchdog said it would not be reclassifying the definition of a foster carer as a worker under the Work Health and Safety Act, a spokeswoman said a volunteer carer may be considered as a worker in some instances.
"This may apply when there is a requirement from the foster carer and an agency to attend certain matters which constitute work," the spokeswoman said.
"However, volunteer foster carers may not be working when they are performing an activity within the normal scope of regular parenting."
The classification comes following a case heard before the Fair Work Commission in September 2019, where Canberra foster carer Benjamin Legge took a stop-bullying claim to the commission, claiming he was subject to workplace bullying conduct by managers at Barnardos.
The commission then determined Mr Legge was classed as a worker and was able to lodge the claim.
It would create an obligation on foster care agencies to provide a safe workplace
Benjamin Legge
At the time of the case, the ACT Foster Care Association believed the decision would apply to all foster carers in Canberra.
Mr Legge said he welcomed the news from WorkSafe ACT.
"It would have created a level of oversight when we were experiencing problems and we asked for things to be looked at," Mr Legge said.
Mr Legge said the reclassification would lead to more protection for foster carers in the ACT.
"It would create an obligation on foster care agencies to provide a safe workplace," he said.
"WorkSafe ACT will be able to go in to foster care agencies and inspect what they are doing and make sure they have policies in place and to address any deficiencies in what they've got there."
Foster carer association of the ACT vice-president Judy Gleeson, who has been a carer for 14 years, said the decision was a long time coming.
"One of the issues is that foster carers work 24/7, but there is a law against that in Australia and we need to slip somewhere in between not being unemployed but also be under the workplace safety act," she said.
"It is enormous, and it should become national quite quickly."
Ms Gleeson said the decision would allow for foster care agencies who had allegations of bullying against them to be formally investigated. "Having an external organisation with regulatory powers will mean funding has to go into the sector to make it safer," she said.
