Workplace Injury Claims

No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers are expert in all areas of personal injury claim, including Workplace Injury claims.  If you have any question about an injury you have sustained whilst undertaking your work, travelling to or from work or in 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 an 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 obligation free.

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

No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers – Qld’s Workplace Injury Claims Experts

If you’ve sustained an injury whilst performing your work, on your way to or from work, or in a work break, then you may have a claim for workers’ compensation benefits or Common Law Damages. No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers are work injury experts, and can advise you as to what your entitlements are should you suffer a work injury, and what steps you need to take to ensure you achieve your full entitlements and your right to claim is protected.

Workers’ Compensation Benefits Following a Workplace Injury

If you are a “worker” under the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003 (“WCRA”), then you are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if you have been injured in the course of your work, 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 your injury has occurred wholly or partly by your own actions, as long as your injury arose out of your work, you are still entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.

What benefits can I claim for in a Workers’ Compensation claim ?

Workers’ Compensation benefits are also often called, Statutory Benefits because your right to such claim is pursuant to statute and not a common law right (a right generally at law). The benefits you are entitled to claim under 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 WCRA;
  • Those considered “Dependents” under the WCRA also have a right to claim statutory benefits where they suffer Nervous Shock because of the loss of a loved one in the course of their work or suffering very serious injury.

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 you suffer a work injury 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 incur in the future because of your injury.

Dissimilar to a workers’ compensation claim, not everyone injured at work has entitlement to bring a Common Law Claim. You will only have such entitlement if there was some negligent or wrongful action or inaction on the part of your employer or a co-worker, that resulted in 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 where self-employed), 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 in employment;
  • 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 damages including, 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 some cases of work injury, these restrictions do not apply. It is therefore very important that you seek advice from experts in work injury claims to ensure that you are claiming for all your compensation entitlements.

What amount of compensation will I receive for my Common Law Damages Claim

How compensation in all personal injury claims, is calculated is on the basis that the compensation amount, as much as reasonably possible, places the injured party back into the same position they were in prior to sustaining the injury. 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 type of injury – it will depend on how that injury has impacted upon you and your circumstances.

Your compensation payment is dependent on a number of factors

There are some dominant factors that are considered in every personal injury claim, and go to determine the amount of compensation 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 the amount of compensation to be paid for a claim. For example, a surgeon who suffers injuries that stop him from working as a surgeon, is likely to suffer greater loss than a postal worker with the same injuries. Because, obviously the financial loss a surgeon will suffer in no longer being able to continue in his career, is likely to be greater than that of a postal worker.

Statistical Data As To Average Payments Made By Workers’ Compensation Insurers For Common Law Damages Claims in 2016

We can however, provide you with 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 No Win No Fee Personal Injury 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 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.

Strict legal procedures 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. These procedures can be quite complex to navigate and should you fail to navigate them properly, then you can lose your right to claim. In fact, pursuing a work injury claim in Queensland has been described as a “legislative minefield”. We cannot stress enough how important it is that you obtain expert legal representation when bringing a work injury claim, to ensure that you are compliant with 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

In Queensland, before you have any entitlement to bring a Common Law Claim, your injury must be assessed for permanent impairment. This is the most important legislative requirement you must comply with when bringing a Common Law claim.

Permanent impairment – what’s that?

Permanent impairment is the percentage of loss of functioning you have sustained because of your work injury. A simple way of looking at it is, taking an uninjured body as 100% functioning, it is assessed how much loss of function you have sustained because of the work injury.  For example, you may suffer an injury to your shoulder that doctors assess as resulting in a permanent loss of your bodily function of 10% – this is how permanent impairment works.

Assessment of your injury for permanent impairment is undertaken in accordance with a specific Guide for the assessment of work injury in Queensland. This 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 the assessment of injuries under GEPI.

When is my Injury Assessed for Permanent Impairment ?

Assessment for permanent impairment normally takes place at the end of your workers’ compensation claim.  It’s 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 (also termed “lump sum offers”).  Information about Lump Sum Payments or Offers is set out below.

If you did not bring a workers’ compensation claim for your work injury, then you can still bring a Common Law Claim for your injury.  In such case, your work injury will be assessed for permanent impairment when you lodge your Notice of Claim for Damages. This is the document that must be lodged with the workers’ compensation insurer to commence your Common Law Damages claim and places them on notice that you will be pursuing Common Law damages for your work injury.

Lump Sum Offers of Lump Sum Payments

After your injury is assessed for permanent impairment, if you have been assessed as suffering a loss of functioning from your work injury (you have been found to have a percentage impairment of more than 0%), then you will be entitled to payment of a Lump Sum amount. This is a statutory lump sum amount to provide some compensatin for the impairment you sustained in your work.

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 2% impairment, you will be offered a Lump Sum amount of around $6,000, and if assessed at say 4%, the offer will be around $12,000.  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 stipulates how much your work injury permanent impairment has been assessed at, and what Lump Sum amount you are entitled to in accordance with that impairment assessment.  Attached to the Notice of Assessment will be a document which then asks whether you wish to accept this Lump Sum amount. This is called a “Lump Sum Offer” and your decision as to whether you wish to take the lump sum amount or not is called an “Irrevocable Election”.

The Importance of Being Aware of the Consequences of an Irrevocable Election

Well you may ask, what is an “irrevocable election”? An irrevocable election 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. This is how it works:

  • If your Notice of Assessment states that your work injury has been assessed at permanent impairment of 20% or more, 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 stated as being assessed at less than 20% permanent impairment in your Notice of Assessment, 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.
  • Once you make this decision, it is irrevocable, meaning that you cannot go back on it later. Hence, 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 and it is very important that you are aware of what this means:

  • Therefore, in the case where your physical injuries sustained in the work incident are assessed at a total permanent impairment of 20% or more, but your psychiatric injury is assessed at less than 20%, then you can take the lump sum offer for the physical injuries and be able to sue for Common Law Damages, but you can’t take the lump sum offer in relation to your psychiatric injury as it is less than 20% – if you do take it, then you will only be able to sue for your physical injuries and not your psychiatric injury.
  • Similarly, if your psychiatric injury is assessed at permanent impairment of 20% or more and your physical injuries at less than 20% permanent impairment, then you can take the lump sum offer for your psychiatric injury and still sue for it, but if you take the lump sum offer for your physical injuries which are at less than 20%, then you will not be able to sue for your physical injuries. You will be limited to suing only for your psychiatric injuries.
  • In the case where both your psychiatric and physical injuries are assessed at 20% or more impairment, then you can take both lump sum offers and still sue for Common Law Damages for all your injuries. And remember, these types of injuries are assessed separately and the permanent impairment assessments for each of them are not added together.
  • And of course if both your physical and psychiatric injuries are assessed at less than 20% permanent impairment, then you cannot take either of them or you will not be able to sue for Common Law Damages for any of your injuries.

You will Only Achieve Proper Compensation for your Work Injury By Way of a Common Law Claim for Damages

Usually Lump Sum Offers are for quite minor amounts. They do not include any compensation for your 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 most 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 WITHOUT FIRST 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 speaking to an expert in work injury claims. You can contact here at No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers and we will assist you.  Because 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.

Did your work injury happen in the period 15 October 2013 – 30 January 2015? If so, then restrictions will apply.

If your work injury occurred between 13 October 2013 and 30 January 2015, then you’ll be subject to a threshold impairment of over 5% before you will be entitled to bring a Common Law Claim for Damages.  This means you will need to achieve a permanent impairment assessment of your injury of at least 6% before you have entitlement to bring a claim for Common Law Damages.

If your work injury or injuries are not assessed at a total impairment of 6% or more, then you will not have entitlement to bring a Common Law Claim, however, as long as your injury is assessed for permanent impairment at over 0%, you will still be entitled to a lump sum payment in accordance with your injury assessment.

You May be entitled to a special additional payment where you do not achieve a 6% impairment assessment

If your work injury occurred during the 6% threshold period (13 October 2013 to 30 January 2015), and it is not assessed at a 6% permanent impairment, then you may be entitled to an additional lump sum payment to compensate you for the loss of your Common Law entitlements.  To be entitled to this additional lump payment, you need to show that your work injury was as a consequence of a negligent or wrongful act by your employer or a co-worker. In other words, that your Common Law claim would most likely have been successful had you been entitled to pursue it.

The workers’ compensation insurer can deny your claim for an additional payment on the basis that there was no substance to a Common Law Claim for Damages had you pursued it. 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 avenues of appeal where you don’t achieve a 6% impairment assessment

There are also avenues of appeal where you do not achieve the 6% threshold impairment needed to bring a Common Law Claim. This involves 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 expert 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 contact us at No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers as soon as possible, so we can advise you what your rights to compensation are and what you need to do to achieve the threshold impairment you need to be able to seek Common Law Damages for your work injury.

Are There Certain Work Injuries I Can Only 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 purely physical injuries. You can 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 please don’t ignore work injuries. As demonstrated by the actual case examples we have given you above, where the work injuries of both Mr Austin and Mr B were assessed at 0% impairment, what you may 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.

You take a serious risk in ignoring minor injuries

Often when a worker sustains a minor injury in the course of their work, they fail to take any steps to report it or to make a claim for their injury. This is because they often think it will recover within a short period with no ongoing problems and therefore there is no cause to report it or to pursue a claim.  This is very often, a big mistake.

Minor injuries can often develop into 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 and we have seen this happen.

It is very important that any injury you suffer at work is reported 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, with no right to claim any recovery from the at-fault party.

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

Many workers are under the impression that it is their employer who will have to pay for their work injury claims. This is actually not the case.  Workers’ Compensation claims and Common Law Damages claims by workers in Queensland are funded by workers’ compensation insurance. The foremost workers’ compensation insurer in Queensland is WorkCover Queensland, handling more than 90% of work injury claims in Queensland.

There are also self-insurers that fund their own workers’ compensation and Common Law work injury schemes. There are criteria that has to be met before a business can self-insure for work injury claims in Queensland. They are usually large companies that employ a large number of workers. There are presently 28 self-insurers in Queensland.  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.

In some cases, employers self-insure under the Comcare Scheme for workers’ compensation insurance. This is a Federal workers’ compensation scheme, quite different from the Queensland scheme, with restrictions on Common Law Damages claims for work injury.  Again, there are certain criteria that have to be met by an employer to self-insure under the Comcare Scheme, including the requirement that they are national companies with a large number of employees.

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

As for all personal injury claims, in Queensland, strict time limits apply to bringing a work injury claim. If you miss the time limit for bringing your Common Law claim, it is only in very exceptional circumstances where 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 wish to bring a workers’ compensation claim for your work injury, 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.

It is also important to seek legal advice about bringing a claim as soon as possible after your work incident, as important evidence of how your injury occurred, required to support your case, may be lost because of delay.

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.

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. You will have entitlement to unrestricted Common Law Damages.

To ensure that you are achieving all your entitlements CONTACT us at the No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers 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 whilst working in your job placement due to the negligence of the employer you have been placed with (usually termed the “Host Employer”) or one of their workers, then your claim for Common Law Damages is not against your employer, but the Host Employer that caused your injury.

This is because, your employer is the labour hire company and it is not the Host Employer. Your contract of employment is with the labour hire company and not the Host Employer, so your claim against the Host Employer does not fall under the Workers’ Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003 (“WCRA”), but is in fact, a claim under Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 (“PIPA”).

However, as you were in employment, working for the labour hire company when your injury occurred, you will have a right to claim workers’ compensation under your employer’s (the labour hire company) workers’ compensation insurance.

In most cases of injuries occurring in Host Employment however, there is usually some contribution toward the work injury occurring by the labour hire company.  A labour hire company, as an employer, has a high standard of care that it is obligated to meet when placing a worker with a Host Employer. This includes investigating the work systems of the Host Employer and the workplace, to ensure they are safe.  It also includes ensuring that proper instruction and training in safe work practices, policies and procedures is provided to the worker, appropriate to the job placement.

Where any of these obligations are not sufficiently met by the labour hire company, and their worker is injured because of this, then there is not only a claim against the Host Employer under PIPA, but there is also a Common Law claim under the WCRA against the labour hire company for its contribution to the work injury occurring.

In such case, the restrictions on damages under the Civil Liability Act 2003 will not apply to the PIPA claim against the Host Employer and you will be entitled to full unrestricted Common Law Damages.

If you have been injured whilst working for a labour hire company, it is important that your claim is handled by a personal injury claim expert, to ensure that you are not missing out on all your compensation and damages entitlements. Our Personal Injury Expert is here to help you 24/7 – give us a call on 1300 388 383, Livechat or send us your enquiry via one of our FREE INSTANT Case Appraisal Forms so we can properly advise you.

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.  Dependents of fatally injured workers do have compensation entitlements available to them under both the Statutory workers’ compensation scheme and also 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 (“WCRA”), 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 WCRA 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 WCRA and these can be quite significant payments. 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 are able to claim for the loss of financial support they would have received from the worker, but for their fatal work accident, as well as for any care and assistance 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 who are considered “dependents” under the WCRA are also entitled to claim statutory compensation where they suffer Nervous Shock as a result of the worker’s serious injury or fatal accident.  Nervous Shock is a psychiatric injury that can develop when a person is informed of or they witness the unexpected and sudden death of a loved one from an 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.

Where the work accident was caused by the negligence of the employer or a co-worker, then the loved one of the deceased, also has a right to claim Common Law Damages for Nervous Shock, and has the same entitlement to damages as any work injury claim under the WCRA, that is, claims for pain & suffering, loss of past and future income (including superannuation benefits) where the dependent is unable to work or has a reduced work capacity 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 are 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.

For example, a worker, seriously or fatally injured in a work accident, had a history as a panel beater and had established a lucrative Smash Repair Company that he would run on weekends and during his “down time” from work. He set this company up with his spouse who would look after the administrative side of the business for him. If the panel beater is no longer able to continue in the business, then the Smash Repair company will lose its source of income and the company will have a right to claim for the loss incurred from the panel beater’s employer, where the work accident was caused or contributed to by the employer’s or a co-worker’s negligence.

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.

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.

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. No Win No Fee Personal Injury 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.