Most workplace injuries are reported late, treated late, and claimed late, not because anyone is hiding anything but because people assume they will be fine and do not want to make a fuss. The Queensland scheme is generous to people who act early and unforgiving to people who do not. Here is the first week.

Key points

  • Report the injury to your employer in writing on the day, see a doctor for a work capacity certificate, and lodge with WorkCover within the week.
  • WorkCover aims to decide within 20 business days; weekly compensation starts at 85 per cent of normal weekly earnings.
  • You cannot be dismissed because of the injury within 12 months, and a rejected claim can be reviewed within three months.

Day one: report it to your employer

Tell your supervisor or employer what happened, on the day if you can. Put it in writing, even a short email, and keep a copy. Ask for the incident to be entered in the workplace's register of injuries, which employers are required to keep. If a colleague saw it, note their name.

Reporting on the day matters for two reasons. The claim will later be assessed on whether the injury arose out of the work, and a contemporaneous report is the best evidence that it did. And an employer who is not told cannot be blamed for not acting.

Day one or two: see a doctor

Go to your GP or an emergency department, describe exactly how the injury happened, and ask for a work capacity certificate, the form Queensland doctors use for workers' compensation. The certificate records the diagnosis and what work you can and cannot do. The medical record made at that visit becomes the foundation of the claim, so describe every symptom, not just the worst one.

If the injury is gradual, a back that has worsened over months, a wrist from repetitive work, hearing loss, a psychological injury that built up, the "date of injury" for the scheme is generally the day a doctor first assessed it. See one now.

Within the week: lodge the claim

Lodge an application with WorkCover Queensland online or by phone, or with your employer's self-insurer if they have one; our guide to lodging a WorkCover claim walks through the application. You do not need your employer's permission and they cannot lodge it for you against your wishes. Attach the work capacity certificate. WorkCover will usually contact you within a few business days and aims to decide the claim within 20 business days.

The legal deadline is six months from the injury, but there is no reason to use it. Every week of delay is a week of weekly payments and treatment you may not recover, and a week for the employer's version of events to harden.

While the claim is assessed

You can access early treatment for psychological injuries while the claim is being decided, and you will not be asked to repay it if the claim is rejected. Keep attending your doctor. Keep the work capacity certificates current, because weekly payments depend on them. Keep receipts.

If the claim is accepted

Your employer pays the first week as its excess; WorkCover pays weekly compensation after that, at 85 per cent of your normal weekly earnings for the first 26 weeks. Treatment, medication and travel to treatment are paid. You and your employer are both required to take part in return-to-work planning; you cannot be dismissed because of the injury within 12 months of it.

If it is rejected

You have three months to ask the Workers' Compensation Regulator for a review. A rejection is not necessarily the end of the claim, and there are options available. Get advice before the three months run.

The second claim

If your employer's negligence caused the injury, an unsafe system, a known hazard, inadequate training, there may also be a common law damages claim, separate from and usually much larger than the statutory benefits. It has its own three-year deadline from the injury, and the statutory claim can affect it. That is a conversation to have early with WorkCover lawyers in Brisbane, not when the lump sum offer arrives.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to lodge a WorkCover claim in Queensland? Six months from the injury, or from when a doctor first assessed a gradual injury. There is no advantage in waiting.

Can my employer stop me lodging a WorkCover claim? No. You lodge directly with WorkCover Queensland, and it is an offence for an employer to dismiss or threaten you for claiming.

What is a work capacity certificate? The form a Queensland doctor completes for a workers' compensation claim, recording the diagnosis and what work you can and cannot do. Weekly payments depend on keeping it current.

Sources

  • Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld), ss 32 (injury), 131 (time for applying), 132–134 (application and decision), 232B (dismissal within 12 months), 542 (review) — legislation.qld.gov.au
  • WorkSafe Queensland, Claim process (decision within 20 business days) — worksafe.qld.gov.au
  • WorkSafe Queensland, Psychological injuries (early treatment while a claim is assessed) — worksafe.qld.gov.au
  • WorkCover Queensland, Weekly payments and compensation — workcoverqld.com.au