Workplace Claims

Palmers Compensation Lawyers specialise in all areas of personal injury law, including claims for injuries in the workplace.  If you’ve a query about an injury you have sustained at work, on your way to or from work or during a work break, then feel free to give us a call on 1300 388 383 and we will be more than happy to assist you.  You can also contact us about your enquiry via Livechat or by submitting one of our FREE Instant Case Appraisal forms on our website.

Your enquiry will be taken by a Senior Lawyer, expert in workplace claims, who has previously represented, worked for and been trained in workers’ compensation and Common Law claims by Queensland’s major workers’ compensation insurer. Your enquiry will also be FREE of charge, totally confidential and free of any obligation.

If you would like to know more about workplace injury claims, we have set out the information below for your assistance.

Palmers Compensation Lawyers are Workplace Injury Claim Experts

If you have sustained an injury at work, on your way to or from work, or during a work break, there are two types of work injury claims you may have. The first is a workers’ compensation claim, also often referred to as “workers’ comp” or a “WorkCover Claim”, and the second is a claim for Common Law Damages.

What is a Workers’ Compensation Claim?

The Workers’ Compensation Scheme in Queensland is established and regulated by the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003 (“the WCRA”). This Scheme has been specifically set up for the purpose of ensuring that Queensland workers who suffer injury, have the financial and medical assistance they need.  A “Workers’ Compensation claim” is a claim made by an injured worker for the benefits available under this Scheme.

Workers’ Compensation benefits, are available to all workers in Queensland who are injured in the course of their work, including whilst travelling to or from work or during a work break.

The Workers’ Compensation scheme in Queensland is a no-fault based scheme, so even if you have in some way contributed to your work injury occurring, as long as your injury arose out of your work, you will still be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.

What benefits am I entitled to in a Workers’ Compensation claim ?

Workers’ Compensation benefits are also often termed, Statutory Benefits because your right to such claim is pursuant to statute (the WCRA) and not a Common Law right. The benefits you are entitled to during a workers’ compensation claim include:

  • Payment of your reasonable medical and rehabilitation expenses (including but not limited to funding of medical treatment, radiology, surgery, hospitalisation, medical aids & adaptive devices, prosthetics, dental treatment, vehicle & home modifications, gym memberships & exercise regime costs, ergonomic assessment, remedial treatments, travel costs & pharmaceuticals);
  • Wage benefits where you are unable to work due to your injury;
  • If your injury results in you requiring care and assistance with your personal care and domestic tasks, then the workers’ compensation insurer is obligated to meet your care needs;
  • A Lump Sum Payment at the end of your workers’ compensation claim, where you are assessed as suffering permanent impairment due to your work injury;
  • Where you have sustained a very serious injury you may be entitled to additional lump sum payments for care and assistance as well as for the seriousness of your injury;
  • Dependents of workers fatally injured in a work accident, have entitlements to claim a statutory lump sum amount stipulated under the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003.

Your entitlement to workers’ compensation will continue until doctors assess your work injury as being stable & stationary, meaning, there is no more treatment that will improve your injury. Once this occurs, then your workers’ compensation claim will cease, as will your statutory benefits. It is at this time you will need to consider whether you are entitled to the second type of work injury claim  – a Common Law Damages claim.

Entitlement to a Common Law Claim for Damages for Work Injury

The second type of work injury claim you may be entitled to when injured as a result of your work, is called a “Common Law Claim”.  Most people know it as a “law suit”. This is where you bring legal proceedings against a party to obtain compensation for an injury you have sustained due to that party’s wrongful or negligent act or omission.  It is only through a Common Law Claim that you will recover all loss and damage you have sustained as a result of your work injury, including the loss and damage you have incurred since sustaining your injury, and the loss and damage you are likely to occur in the future because of your injury.

Unlike a workers’ compensation claim, not everyone injured at work has a Common Law Claim. You will only have entitlement to bring a Common Law Claim for your work injury if there was some negligent or wrongful action or inaction on the part of your employer or a co-worker, that caused, or contributed to your work injury occurring.

Compensation entitlements in a Common Law claim for work injury

The type of compensation you may be entitled to claim for in a Common Law Claim for your work injury, includes:

  • Pain & suffering and loss of amenities of life (inability to participate in activities you enjoyed before your work accident due to your injury);
  • Loss of income (wages or profits), including past lost income and income you are likely to lose in the future because of your injury;
  • Loss of past and future Superannuation benefits associated with your income losses;
  • Past and future medical and out of pocket expenses associated with your injury (costs for medical & rehabilitation treatment, medical aids & adaptive devices, pharmaceuticals, radiology, surgery, hospitalisation, home & vehicle modifications, dental treatment, exercise regimes, gym memberships etc);
  • Past and future care and assistance where you need assistance performing your personal care or domestic tasks, or yard, vehicle and home maintenance (including gratuitously given care by a friend or relative, or paid care);
  • Interest on pain & suffering compensation, past lost income, past lost superannuation benefits, past medical and out of pocket expenses and past gratuitous and paid care.

The Common Law entitlements for work injuries in Queensland are restricted in some respects by the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003 and its associated Regulations. There are restrictions on the amount you can claim for pain & suffering and loss of amenities of life, as well as care & assistance and interest pursuant to that legislation.  In certain cases of work injury, these restrictions do not apply. It is therefore important that you engage expert legal advice when bringing a work injury claim, to ensure that you are claiming for all your compensation entitlements.

How much compensation will I receive for my Common Law Damages Claim

How compensation in personal injury claims is calculated is on the basis that the compensation amount, as much as reasonably possible, places the injured party into the same position they were prior to their injury occurring.  Therefore, the more your pre-injury lifestyle, daily living activities and employment are impacted by your injury, the greater your compensation payment will be.

Every claim is as individual as the individual who brings it

The calculation of compensation amounts in personal injury claims is subjective.  It is dependent on the individual and how they have been affected by their injury. So, every claim is as individual as the individual who brings it.

This means that we cannot simply tell you that you will receive a certain amount of compensation for sustaining a certain injury – it will depend on how that injury has impacted you and your circumstances.

Your compensation payment will depend on a variety of factors

However, there are some dominant factors that are considered in every personal injury claim, and are primary determinants of what compensation is paid. These dominant factors include such things as,:

  • Age of the injured person;
  • Extent of the injury sustained and its effect on pre-injury lifestyle, daily living activities and employment;
  • Occupation & earnings history;
  • Future earning potential pre-injury and post-injury;
  • Pre-accident medical history and general health;
  • Recreational & sporting interests; and
  • Domestic arrangements.

The individual circumstances of each claimant will be considered when calculating their compensation payment. For example, a professional footballer who injures his ankle and can no longer play football as a result, will more than likely suffer greater loss financially, and perhaps psychologically, then a postal worker who sits all day and sorts mail with the same ankle injury.

Average Common Law Damages Payments Made By Workers’ Compensation Insurers in 2016

However, we are able to give you an idea of what compensation is being paid for work injury claims in Queensland, through statistical data published annually by the Workers’ Compensation Regulator in Queensland and, the major workers’ compensation insurer in Queensland, Workcover Queensland, on this very subject:

  • In the 2016 financial year, the average Common Law Claim payment was, according to Workcover Queensland, $188,000.00;
  • More than 50% of Common Law Claims were for injuries assessed at less than 5% impairment;
  • There were 2,506 Common Law Claims brought in Queensland for work injury during the 2016 financial year;
  • The most recent data providing statistical information on average Common Law Damages paid for varying severity of injury, is from reporting in 2013 and provides:
    • Injuries assessed at less than 5% (minor injury) received an average payment of between $160,000 and $260,000;
    • Injuries assessed at between 5 to 10% (moderate injury) received an average payment of between $213,000 to $468,000.
  • Since 2013, there has been a steady increase in the average Damages payment for work injury claims, and we would therefore expect that the above 2013 figures would have increased over the 3 to 4 years since these statistics were released.

Actual Case Examples

These average payments stated above, are just that – averages. Your compensation payment is not limited to these figures.  Compensation for your work injury will depend on your individual case and how your work injury impacts on you. Injury affects everyone differently and therefore compensation entitlements are different for each individual work injury claim, as in the following case examples, which were actual cases run by the Principal of Palmers Compensation Lawyers:

  • In the case of Mr Austin, a truck driver in his late 30s, he sustained what doctors said was a “minor head injury” when a milk crate fell on his head whilst unloading a truck. Mr Austin’s injury was assessed at an impairment of 0% but he received damages of $1,052,000 at trial because the injury affected his ability to work as a truck driver (see the case of Austin v Parmalat Australia Pty Ltd (2013) QSC 227 );
  • Mr B, in his 50s, suffered a head injury when he hit his head on a beam whilst undertaking his work. His head injury was also described as “minor” by doctors and he also was assessed as suffering a 0% impairment by the workers’ compensation insurer. However, as his injury affected his capacity to work on boats due to balance problems, he achieved $500,000 for his work injury claim.

Where catastrophic injuries are involved however, then of course these averages have no application. Damages in such cases of paraplegia, tetraplegia, multiple amputation injuries, catastrophic brain injury, where there is significant ongoing medical and personal care required for the life of the victim, can be in the order of $15,000,000 or more.

Generally, the rule of thumb is, the more your pre-injury lifestyle, employment and functioning is impacted by your work injury, the greater your loss & damage will be, and the greater will be your personal injury compensation payment.

Whatever your work injury, whether it is a minor whiplash injury or catastrophic injury, we will be able to advise you as to what your full and proper compensation and damages entitlements are.

There are strict legal processes that must be complied with when bringing a work injury claim – you will need expert legal advice

In Queensland, you can only bring your Common Law claim for work injury if you comply with certain procedural requirements under the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003, which are quite complex to navigate. In fact, pursuing a work injury claim in Queensland can be a legislative minefield. It is very important that you obtain expert legal advice to ensure you meet these statutory requirements and that your Common Law claim is not lost for failure to comply with them.

Assessment of work injuries, Notices of Assessment & the Irrevocable Election

The most important legislative requirement that you must comply with when bringing a Common Law claim for your work injury is the assessment of your work injury for permanent impairment. Your work injury or injuries must be assessed for permanent impairment before you have any entitlement to pursue a Common Law claim for Damages.

What is permanent impairment ?

Permanent impairment is the percentage of loss of functioning you have sustained because of your work injury, in accordance with a specific Guide for such assessment applying to work injury claims in Queensland. The Guide is called “GEPI”, or the Guide to Evaluation of Permanent Impairment.  Your work injury will be assessed for permanent impairment by a properly qualified medical practitioner, trained in GEPI.

Assessment of your work injury for permanent impairment

This assessment usually occurs at the end of your workers’ compensation claim.  It is at this time that you can ask the workers’ compensation insurer to assess your work injury for permanent impairment to determine whether you have an entitlement to a Lump Sum Payment.  If you did not bring a workers’ compensation claim for your work injury, then the assessment of your work injury will occur when your Notice of Claim for Damages is lodged with the workers’ compensation insurer, placing WorkCover Queensland or the workers’ compensation self-insurer on notice that you are intending to bring a Common Law claim for Damages.

Lump Sum Offers

After your injury is assessed for permanent impairment, you will be entitled to a Lump Sum Payment if your work injury is assessed as resulting in permanent impairment of over 0%. How the Lump Sum amount is calculated, is in accordance with your impairment assessment. For each percentage of impairment you are assessed at, you are usually entitled to an amount of approximately $3,000.  So if you are assessed as suffering a 3% impairment, you will be offered a Lump Sum amount of around $9,000, and if assessed at say 6%, the offer will be around $18,000.  Typically, permanent impairment assessments by workers’ compensation insurers and Lump Sum offers are quite low, unless your injury is of a very serious nature.

Notices of Assessment

After your work injury has been assessed for permanent impairment, the workers’ compensation insurer will issue you with a document called a “Notice of Assessment”. This document will stipulate your assessed injury impairment and the Lump Sum amount you are entitled to in accordance with that impairment assessment. This is called a “Lump Sum Offer” and will be provided to you with your Notice of  Assessment. You will then be asked to make an “Irrevocable Election” by the workers’ compensation insurer.

The importance of being aware of the consequences of an Irrevocable Election

What is an “irrevocable election”? It is quite simply deciding whether you will take the Lump Sum Offer made by the workers’ compensation insurer with your Notice of Assessment, or sue for Common Law Damages.  You see, in the majority of cases, unless you are seriously injured at work, you cannot do both – you must choose.

If your work injury is assessed at an impairment of 20% or more in your Notice of Assessment, then you are able to take the Lump Sum Offer made to you with the Notice of Assessment and you will still be able to bring your Common Law Claim for Damages. However, if your injuries are assessed at less than 20% impairment, then you must make an election as to whether you will accept the Lump Sum Offer or proceed with a Common Law claim – you cannot do both.  The decision, once made, is irrevocable and you cannot later go back on it. Hence the reason why it is called an “irrevocable election”.

Where you suffer multiple injuries in a work accident, say for example in a fall from a construction site, each injury will be given an impairment rating and these will be combined to provide a total impairment amount. However, if you suffer both psychological and physical injuries from a work accident, then the psychological injury impairment is not added to the impairments for the physical injuries. They are treated as separate assessments.

So, in the case that you were to receive 20% or more impairment for your physical injuries but less than 20% for your psychological injuries, then you can take the offer in relation to the physical injuries and sue, but if you take the offer for the psychological injuries assessed at less than 20%, then you will not be able to sue for the psychological injury – just the physical injuries. You could accept the offer for the physical injuries, but you would have to reject the offer for the psychological injury to be able to claim Common Law Damages for all your work injuries.  And the same would apply if the psychological injury was assessed at 20% but the physical injuries totaled an impairment at less than 20% impairment. You could take the offer for the psychological injury and sue but you would need to reject the lump sum offer for the physical injuries to be able to seek Common Law Damages for all your work injuries.

You will only be properly compensated for your work injury by bringing a Common Law Claim for Damages

Usually Lump Sum Offers are for quite minor amounts. They will not compensate you for future medical expenses, care & assistance you may require, or for any loss of income that you have incurred or are likely to incur in the future, because of your work injury. Such compensation is only recoverable by bringing a Common Law claim.  In the majority of cases, you will only receive proper compensation for your work injury by bringing a Common Law claim for Damages.

Do not respond to any Lump Sum Offer from the workers’ compensation insurer without seeking expert legal advice

It is very important that you do not respond to any Lump Sum Offer from the workers’ compensation insurer without first seeking expert legal advice.  If you make the wrong response to this document, it could mean the loss of significant compensation. We cannot stress enough to you, the importance of speaking to us about any Lump Sum Offer before making any response to the workers’ compensation insurer.

If your injury is  assessed at 0% impairment, then there will be no Lump Sum Offer and your only means of obtaining any compensation for your work injury is by bringing a Common Law Claim for Damages. This makes it much simpler for a worker, as they will have no option but to bring a Common Law claim to achieve any lump sum compensation at all for their work injury.

Once you’ve decided you wish to reject the Lump Sum offer and proceed with your Common Law claim, then we can commence your claim for you by serving a Notice of Claim for Damages on the workers’ compensation insurer and your claim will then proceed through the legislated Common Law process.

If your injury occurred between 15 October 2013 & 30 January 2015 then restrictions will apply to bringing a Common Law Claim

If your work injury occurred between these two dates, then you will be subject to a threshold impairment of 6% before you will be entitled to bring a Common Law Claim for Damages.  If your work injury or injuries are not assessed at a total impairment of 6% or more, then you will have no right to claim Damages for your work injury. You will however, still be entitled to receive a Lump Sum payment for your assessed injuries if impairment is over 0%.

6% threshold for bringing a Common Law Claim

If you do not achieve an impairment assessment of at least 6%, then you may be entitled to an additional lump sum payment to compensate you for the loss of your Common Law entitlements. If the workers’ compensation insurer denies that your claim is one for an additional lump sum payment, then there are appeal avenues.

Strict time limits apply to an appeal from a rejection of  additional lump sum compensation however, and if you miss these time limits, you may very well lose any right to this additional compensation.  It is important that you seek legal advice as soon as possible after receiving your Notice of Assessment from the workers’ compensation insurer advising of your impairment assessment.

There are also appeal procedures in place for workers who do not achieve the 6% threshold impairment they need to bring a Common Law Claim. These involve seeking reassessment of your injuries in an attempt to achieve the impairment threshold. There are very strict time limits for appealing your impairment assessment, which if missed, will lose your right to appeal.  It is a complex process and you will need the assistance of legal advisers to ensure that you are taking the necessary and appropriate steps to achieve an impairment assessment of at least 6% for your injury.

If you have suffered a work injury between 15 October 2013 and 30 January 2015, you need to seek legal advice about your rights to compensation as soon as possible. We can assist you in achieving the threshold impairment you need to be able to seek Common Law Damages for your work injury.

What type of injuries can I claim for?

You can claim for any injury you sustain in your work, whether minor or catastrophic in nature. And you are not limited to claiming for physical injuries only. You may also claim for pure psychiatric injuries sustained in the course of your work, and these claims are commonly made in relation to stress or bullying and harassment in the workplace.

And you should not ignore minor work injuries. As indicated from the actual case examples above where the work injuries of both Mr Austin and Mr Brown were assessed at 0% impairment, what many think are minor injuries, can still have considerable impact on a person’s capacity to work or undertake their everyday living activities and can result in significant loss and damage, and accordingly, significant compensation.

Ignoring minor injuries can be hazardous

Often workers who suffer a minor injury at work, fail to take any steps to report it or to make a claim for their injury, thinking it will recover within a short period with no ongoing issues.  This can, very often, be a very big mistake.

Minor injuries can often become major injuries later on, causing significant debilitation and impacting upon work, home and recreational activities.  Most claims for work injuries in Queensland are for musculo-skeletal injuries involving the neck and back. Many of these types of claims start off as minor strain injuries, such as whiplash or a back strain,  that cause acceleration of the natural degenerative process in the spine, resulting in chronic pain and restriction in employment, daily living, social, recreational and domestic activities.  Sometimes they can require surgery within months or years of the injury occurring.

It is very important that you report any injury you suffer at work to your employer and WorkCover Queensland to ensure that you are protected should your minor injury develop into a significant injury over time.  You should also seek legal advice about your injury to find out if you should be taking legal action, as time limits do apply to work injury claims, and missing these time limits could mean the loss of significant compensation. You could be left footing the bill for surgery and hospitalisation costs or significant lost earnings in the future, because you are unable to work due to your injury.

Who pays for my Workers’ Compensation & Common Law Damages claims

A lot of workers have concerns that their employer is the party who pays for their work injury claims, when in fact this is not the case.  Workers’ Compensation claims and Common Law Damages claims by workers in Queensland are funded by workers’ compensation insurance. The primary workers’ compensation insurer in Queensland is WorkCover Queensland, handling more than 90% of work injury claims in Queensland.

There are also self-insurers. Presently 28 larger companies hold self-insurance licences in Queensland and fund their own workers’ compensation and Common Law Damages claims. These are usually termed, “self-insurers”. If you would like to know whether your employer is self-insured for work injury claims, go to the following link: Self-Insurers in Queensland.

Time Limits Apply to Workers’ Compensation & Common Law Damages Claims

Strict time limits apply to all personal injury claims in Queensland, including Common Law Damages claims for work injury. If you miss the time limit for bringing your Common Law claim, it is only in very exceptional circumstances that you will be permitted to bring your claim, and only by Order of a Court.  This could mean the loss of quite significant compensation.

If you are bringing a workers’ compensation claim, you only have 6 months from the date of your work injury to do so.  There are also, strict time periods involved when appealing decisions of the workers’ compensation insurer or assessment of your injuries.

Don’t delay investigating whether you have a claim, as otherwise you may find out that you have lost your entitlement to any compensation because time limitations applying to your claim have lapsed.

Fatal Accidents at Work – Dependency & Nervous Shock Claims

Unfortunately, despite an increasing focus on workplace health & safety, fatal accidents do still tragically occur in  Queensland workplaces.  Compensation is available to Dependents of workers who are fatally injured in the workplace, both under the Statutory workers’ compensation scheme and at Common Law, where the accident was the result of the wrongful or negligent act of the employer or a co-worker.

Who is a Dependent and can claim for compensation and damages in cases of fatal accidents, is stipulated in the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003, which defines a “dependent” as a member of the fatally injured worker’s family, who was partly or wholly dependent on the worker at the time of death, or would have been but for the fatal work accident.

Who is a “family member” is defined in the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003 as including a spouse (including a defacto spouse), parent, child, or brother, sister, half-brother or half-sister.

As indicated above, a dependent of a deceased worker is entitled to statutory lump sum compensation, which are set amounts stipulated under the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003. Where the accident was the result of the negligence or wrongful act of the employer or co-worker, then the deceased worker’s dependents may also have a Dependency Claim at Common Law.

In a Common Law Dependency Claim, dependents can claim for the loss of financial support they would have had from the worker, but for the fatal work accident, as well as for any care and assistance that the deceased worker usually provided to them and would have most likely continued to provide into the future, but for the work accident (eg. shared domestic chores, gardening, vehicle cleaning etc).

Those close to the deceased worker, are also entitled to claim statutory compensation and, where the work accident was caused by the negligence of the employer or a co-worker, Common Law Damages for Nervous Shock, should they suffer an adverse psychiatric reaction to the unexpected death of the deceased worker or seeing their loved one seriously injured following their accident.

Nervous shock can result in quite significant debilitation, resulting in the sufferer being unable to cope with their everyday functioning. Some cannot return to the workforce, or care for themselves or those dependent on them their symptomatology is so severe.

A Nervous Shock claim is a pure personal injury claim, having the same entitlement to damages as any personal injury claim, that is, claims for pain & suffering, loss of past and future income (including superannuation benefits) where the dependent is unable to work because of their Nervous Shock injury, medical expenses (both past & future) and care and assistance should this be required.

Loss of Consortium & Servitium Claims Arising from a Work Accident

If your partner or spouse is seriously injured in a work accident, then you may also have a claim for loss of consortium. The purpose of such a claim is to compensate you for the loss of company of your loved one, eg. socialising together, the loss of intimacy & the assistance they provided to you, as well as the burden of seeing your loved one disabled from their injuries, and often having to provide increased care to them due to their injuries.

A Loss of Consortium claim can only arise where the claimant’s loved one has died in the accident, or the injuries sustained were of a very serious nature. This is a requirement under the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003.

Loss of servitium claims arise when the person injured in the work accident is an integral part of a business or enterprise, and that business or enterprise loses income or is more than likely to lose income in the future, because of the injuries sustained by their business partner or employee in the accident.

Similarly, claims for loss of servitium are also restricted under the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003, to workplace accidents resulting in fatality or very serious injury.

Are You An Independent Contractor Injured In The Course of Your Work?

Only those who are “workers” in Queensland as defined in the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003 can claim workers’ compensation and Common Law Damages from WorkCover Queensland or a self-insured employer, when injured whilst undertaking their work.  An independent contractor’s claim is one under the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 or PIPA as it is known, and will be against the party or parties whose negligence resulted in the injury occurring and there is no entitlement to workers’ compensation benefits.

However, it is often the case that what an employer is terming an “Independent Contractor” relationship, is not actually in law seen as one – at law, it may very well be considered a master/servant or employer/employee relationship, and in such case, then the so called Independent Contractor is actually a “worker” and is entitled to all the workers’ compensation and Common Law rights of a worker in Queensland.

If you have been injured whilst undertaking your work and your employer is terming your employment as one of an Independent Contractor, you need to obtain expert legal advice to ensure that you are not actually a “worker” and entitled to workers’ compensation benefits and a Common Law Claim for Damages under the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003 .

It may also mean that you have entitlement to increased compensation. Should the circumstances of your case involve a number of defendants, then any negligence of your employer contributing to your injury, will operate to exclude the Civil Liability Act 2003 and its restrictions on your damages entitlements will not apply.

To ensure that you are achieving all your entitlements CONTACT US today and find out – our expert in work injury claims is available at anytime to speak to you, day or night.

Injury Suffered Whilst Working in Host Employment

If you are working for a labour hire company, and you are injured in the workplace of your host employer or during the course of such employment, if the host employer’s negligence caused or contributed to your injury occurring, the claim against the host employer is not considered a “work injury” claim, but it falls within PIPA.  This is because the host employer is actually not your legal employer – that is the labour hire company, and your work for the host employer is pursuant to a contract between the labour hire company and the host employer, and not with you.

However, as your injury would have occurred whilst performing your work for the labour hire company, you will be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. And if your employer was negligent in relation to your injury with the host employer occurring, then you will also have a Common Law Claim against your employer under the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003.

In fact, it is often the case in host employment claims for both the employer and host employer to have negligently contributed to the worker’s injury occurring, and both are then liable to compensate the injured worker for the loss and damage sustained.  In such case, the Civil Liability Act 2003 restrictions on damages will not apply to the worker’s PIPA claim, and it will mean entitlement to increased compensation & damages.

If you are injured whilst undertaking your work for a labour hire company, you need to contact us as soon as possible to ensure that your claim is protected and you are achieving all your compensation entitlements.

THE NATIONAL INJURY INSURANCE DISABILITY SCHEME – YOUR ENTITLEMENTS

In 2016, the State and Federal Governments rolled out the National Injury Insurance Disability Scheme (NIIS) in Australia.  The Scheme’s purpose is to assist those seriously disabled by injury, a medical condition or disease by providing funding of medical & dental treatment, medical equipment, aids & adaptive devices, as well as personal, domestic & nursing care needs.

The NIIS provides assistance to anyone who suffers “Catastrophic Injury” under the Scheme, which includes spinal cord injury, multiple amputation injuries, traumatic brain injury, permanent blindness and severe burns  The Scheme is no-fault based, so it does not matter how the injury has developed, whether genetically, in an accident, assault or through disease or illness.

If you have sustained catastrophic injury at work, then you may be entitled to assistance under the NIIS.  The NIIS is not a compensatory body and it does not replace workers’ compensation or Common Law Damages claims. You must still bring a Common Law Claim for Damages to be properly and fully compensated for your work injuries. The NIIS is purely there to ensure those suffering serious disability in Australia have access to the medical treatment and care they need to provide them with a decent quality of life.

In the majority of catastrophic work accident claims, the workers’ compensation insurer is obligated to provide funding for any medical treatment, medical aids & adaptive devices and care needs, and therefore claims under the NIIS are not normally necessary. But where a person is injured at work, and for some reason does not have claims for work injury compensation, then the Scheme is there to help meet their medical and care needs.

To learn more about the NIIS and what services it provides, click on the following link to its website: The National Injury Insurance Scheme.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), is another scheme in Queensland providing care and medical assistance to the seriously impaired or disabled, who are likely to require ongoing care and medical treatment for their lifetime. This scheme has already been implemented in far North Queensland, and will be rolled out across the rest of Queensland over the next 2 to 3 years.  To learn more about the NDIS, go to the following link: NDIS in Qld.

You Can Contact Us For Free Legal Advice About Your Work Injury 24/7

If you or someone you know has suffered an injury at work, contact us and seek advice as to whether you or your friend or relative should be pursuing a claim. Palmers Compensation Lawyers are experts in work injury claims and can provide you with the advice you need and peace of mind. You can contact us anytime, day or night, via our work injury helpline on 1300 388 383, Livechat , email or send us your enquiry via one of our FREE Instant Case Appraisal forms on our website. We will be more than happy to assist you.

Your enquiry will be FREE of charge, 100% confidential and without obligation.