WorkCover and workers' compensation lawyers in Brisbane

01

Who we act for in Brisbane and Queensland

We act for injured workers in Brisbane and throughout Queensland: employees, casuals, apprentices, labour hire workers, and contractors who count as workers under the Act, in any industry. It makes no difference whether your employer is insured by WorkCover Queensland or is a self-insurer. We can help at any stage, from the WorkCover application, through a review of a rejected claim and the impairment assessment, to a common law damages claim. Our offices are in Eight Mile Plains and Brisbane City (by appointment), and we can meet at our office, at your home, or wherever you feel is most convenient, or by phone or video if you are elsewhere in Queensland. We act in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka or Malay.

02

Who can claim

Any worker injured in Queensland in the course of their work: employees, casuals, labour hire workers, apprentices and many contractors, depending on how the work was actually arranged rather than what the contract calls you. Injuries on the ordinary journey between home and work, and during breaks, are covered too. The injury can be sudden, like a fall or a machinery accident, or gradual, like a back worn down by years of lifting, hearing loss, or a psychological injury that built up over months.

03

The statutory claim and the damages claim

The statutory claim is the one everyone knows. You lodge an application with WorkCover Queensland (or your employer's self-insurer), which must decide it within 20 business days. If it is accepted you receive weekly payments while you cannot work, your medical and rehabilitation costs are paid, and, once your injury has stabilised, you are assessed for permanent impairment and may be offered a lump sum. Nobody has to be at fault.

The damages claim is usually the larger of the two. It is a claim against your employer's insurer for the full loss the injury has caused you, including future income, and it is available where the employer, or someone the employer is responsible for, was negligent: an unsafe system of work, a hazard that was known and not fixed, inadequate training or supervision, a co-worker's carelessness. Damages claims are usually worth far more than statutory benefits. Whether you have one, and how to run both without the first undermining the second, is what we tell you at the first meeting.

04

The five stages of a damages claim

Every claim follows the same path once the statutory claim has run its course.

1. Notice. We serve a Notice of Claim for Damages on WorkCover, setting out how the employer was negligent, and it must respond on liability within six months.
2. Rehabilitation. Treatment continues under the statutory claim while the damages claim is prepared. Getting better comes first.
3. Evidence. Specialists assess the permanent effect of the injury; we gather the employer's safety records, training records and incident reports, and evidence of what the injury has cost you.
4. Compulsory conference. Both sides meet with a full picture and exchange final offers. Most claims settle here or shortly after.
5. Court, if it does not settle. Proceedings must be started within 60 days of the conference. Few claims get this far, but we prepare each one from the start as if it will.

05

Time limits: the dates that decide a claim

6 months

from the injury, or from when you first saw a doctor about it, to lodge the WorkCover application

3 months

to ask the Workers' Compensation Regulator to review a WorkCover decision you disagree with

3 years

from the injury to start a damages claim in court

The six-month period is enforced, though WorkCover can accept a late application where there is a reasonable cause, such as a delayed diagnosis. The three-year limitation on damages claims is the one that catches people out: the statutory claim can run for a year or more, and by the time the lump sum offer arrives the window for a damages claim can be closing. We check the dates at the first meeting and put the notice in early where the limitation is near.

06

The lump sum offer and the choice it forces

When your injury has stabilised, WorkCover arranges an assessment of your degree of permanent impairment (DPI) and issues a Notice of Assessment, usually with an offer of a lump sum. If you disagree with the percentage you have 20 business days to ask for a fresh assessment, which can go to the independent Medical Assessment Tribunal.

Then comes the choice. If your DPI is less than 20 per cent, you must elect: accept the lump sum, or reject it and pursue a damages claim instead. You cannot have both. The lump sum is often a small fraction of what a damages claim would be worth, and the notice gives you a limited time to decide. Do not accept, and do not let the time run, without advice. If your DPI is 20 per cent or more you can accept the lump sum and still claim damages.

07

Psychological injuries

Anxiety, depression, PTSD and adjustment disorders arising from work are compensable in Queensland where work was a significant contributing factor. The usual causes are bullying, harassment, excessive workload, traumatic events and assaults. The scheme excludes injuries that arise from reasonable management action taken in a reasonable way, such as a fair performance process, and insurers rely on that exclusion heavily. These claims turn on evidence: contemporaneous complaints, emails, medical records and witnesses. Keep everything, see your doctor early, and call us before you respond to the insurer's questions.

08

Injuries on the way to work, and on a break

A journey claim covers injuries on the ordinary route between home and work, and between workplaces, under the statutory layer, as do injuries during a meal or rest break. If the journey injury was caused by another driver, you may also have a CTP claim against that driver's insurer, which can be worth considerably more. We run the two together so that nothing is missed and the deadlines for each are met.

09

If WorkCover rejects your claim or stops your payments

A rejection, a decision to cease benefits, or a dispute about the degree of impairment can all be challenged. The first step is a review by the Workers' Compensation Regulator within three months of the decision; the next is an appeal to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission. Time limits are strict at each stage. A rejection is not necessarily the end of the claim: there are options available, and the medical evidence matters at every step, particularly for psychological and gradual-onset injuries.

10

Your job while you claim

Your employer cannot dismiss you because of the injury within twelve months of it, and must take reasonable steps to bring you back to suitable work. Making a claim is your legal right, it is an offence to discourage you from doing so, and it is the insurer that pays, not your employer. Many of our clients keep working for the same employer through and after a claim.

11

What it costs

The first consultation is free. We act on a no win, no fee basis: our professional fees are only payable if the claim succeeds. Under section 347 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld), in a speculative personal injury claim our professional fees cannot be more than half of what you receive after refunds and outlays are deducted.

We fund the outlays needed to run the claim, such as specialist medical reports, and in most cases they are not payable if the claim is unsuccessful. There are situations where they become payable; they are set out in the costs agreement, which we explain in writing before you sign anything.

12

What you can hold us to

1. A free first consultation, by phone, Zoom, at our office or wherever suits you. We tell you which claims apply to you, what each is likely to be worth, and the order to run them in, and we help with the WorkCover application itself, not only what comes after.
2. Your lawyer, from the first call to the last. The person who takes your call handles the review, the impairment assessment, the election and the damages claim through to the conference.
3. No win, no fee. Our professional fees are only payable if the claim succeeds. We fund the outlays needed to run it, and in most cases they are not payable if the claim is unsuccessful; the exceptions are in the costs agreement, explained in writing before you sign anything.
4. Answered within the hour, most of the time. Enquiries are answered on average within 30 minutes to an hour, including evenings and weekends, and always within one business day.
5. English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka or Malay, whichever you are most comfortable in.