If you’ve been injured at work, workers’ compensation options are as follows:-
- You need to submit a claim to your employer’s workers’ compensation insurer within 6 months of the date of accident/injury. The insurer usually is WorkCover Queensland but not always;
- You can lodge or submit your claim over the phone, when are seeking treatment from your GP at the GP clinic, via email, fax or online to Worksafe QLD www.worksafe.qld.gov.au;
- If you miss the 6 month time limit, you can still lodge a claim but you are likely to be required to provide an excuse for delay;
- You are entitled to receive assistance from WorkCover in terms of payment of your wages while you are off work, medical and rehabilitation expenses including surgery, vocational training and assistance, pharmaceutical and travel expenses while you are unable to work, during your recovery and even after you have returned to work;
- When your injury/injuries have stabilised or reached maximum medical improvement you are entitled to request a Notice of Assessment from WorkCover and if you have been left with any ongoing impairment or disability, you are entitled to receive an offer of lump sum compensation. You do not need to prove legal fault or negligence to receive the offer of lump sum compensation;
- If the level of impairment in the Notice of Assessment is equal to or greater than 20% of your whole body, you can accept the lump sum offer which in our experience is often between $70,000.00 to $150,000.00 and you can also pursue a common law claim for damages if your injury was due to the negligence of your employer;
- If the level of impairment in the Notice of Assessment is less than 20% of your whole body, you must make a choice between accepting the offer of lump sum compensation or pursuing a common law claim for damages. You cannot accept the lump sum offer and pursue a common law claim if the impairment is less than 20% of your whole person;
- If your WorkCover claim has ended and a Notice of Assessment has not been issued, you are entitled to ask your claims officer to arrange for a medical examination so that the Notice of Assessment can be issued so you can receive the offer of lump sum compensation;
- It is important to seek legal advice regarding your rights and options and especially when the Notice of Assessment has been issued;
- If your legal advice is to pursue a common law claim, it usually takes 6 to 9 months for the claim to progress to a settlement conference. Many but not all claims are able to be resolved at the settlement conference. Some cases require court proceedings, but most cases can be resolved prior to trial in our experience;
- In a common law claim for damages, you need to be able to prove or establish legal fault or negligence. If liability is established or if you can show that the claim has reasonable prospects of success, you can recover damages or compensation for pain and suffering, out of pocket expenses, past and future loss of wages, past and future loss of income, future medical treatment, retraining costs and future out of pocket expenses;
- In some cases, you are entitled to recover some but not all of your legal costs;
- According to the statistics published by the Workers Compensation Regulator, the average settlement payout in common law claims is in the order of $150,000 to $175,000. Some cases are worth less and some are worth significantly more than this average;
- At vbr Lawyers, we offer our clients a 30% cap on professional costs so that you achieve or receive more from your settlement unlike almost all our competitors;
- At vbr Lawyers, we do not charge a 25% uplift on our professional costs because we have taken on your case on a “No Win – No Fee” basis unlike almost all our competitors;
- At vbr Lawyers, your case will be handled by a senior lawyer from start to finish unlike almost all our competitors
Contact vbr – Workers’ Compensation Lawyers servicing all of Queensland including Brisbane and Gold Coast.