{"id":6570,"date":"2017-08-09T06:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T20:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nowinnofeepersonalinjurylawyers.com.au\/?p=6570"},"modified":"2017-09-21T05:13:02","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T19:13:02","slug":"notices-assessment-workers-compensation-work-injury-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nowinnofeepersonalinjurylawyers.com.au\/index.php\/2017\/08\/09\/notices-assessment-workers-compensation-work-injury-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Notices of Assessment in Workers’ Compensation & Work Injury Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It’s imperative you seek advice from No Win No Fee Personal Injury Lawyers before making any response to a Notice of Assessment in your work injury claim.<\/p><\/div>\n

At the end of your workers’ compensation claim<\/a> for work injury<\/a>, the workers’ compensation insurer may issue you with a document called a “Notice of Assessment”. This document will list all your injuries sustained in your work accident and accord a degree of permanent impairment assessed by a doctor for each injury, and a total of the degree of permanent impairment assessed for all your injuries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What is “degree of permanent impairment” for a work injury? \u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
Taking your body’s overall functioning as 100%, a doctor trained in permanent impairment assessments will evaluate the degree your work injury has impaired your bodily function. \u00a0The degree of permanent impairment is assessed as a percentage and is based on the impact the injury has on your capacity to undertake your everyday living activities. For example, your back injury sustained at work, may be assessed as resulting in permanent impairment of your capacity to undertake your everyday normal living activities of 10%.<\/div>\n
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Assessment of permanent impairment for work injuries in Queensland is undertaken in accordance with the Guide to Evaluation of Permanent Impairment<\/a>, or “GEPI” as it is also known. Doctors who undertake these assessments must be accredited in evaluating permanent impairment under this Guide.<\/div>\n
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So at the end of your workers’ compensation claim, Workcover or the self insurer, will have your work injury reviewed by a GEPI trained doctor and ask for their assessment of what degree of permanent impairment your work injury has caused. The workers’ compensation insurer then issues you with a Notice of Assessment stipulating the degree of permanent impairment assessed.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Statutory Lump Sum Offers of Compensation with the Notice of Assessment<\/span><\/h2>\n
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If the degree of permanent impairment stated in your Notice of Assessment is stated as more than 0%, \u00a0then you will be made an offer of lump sum compensation when receiving your Notice of Assessment. \u00a0The higher the degree of impairment, the greater the lump sum offer will be. \u00a0Normally, the offer is around $3,000 for each 1% of permanent impairment assessed (eg. 5% degree of permanent impairment will result in an offer of approximately $15,000).<\/div>\n
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It is very important to be aware of the serious repercussions that can flow from accepting a Statutory Lump Sum Offer made with the Notice of Assessment. If your total degree of permanent impairment is less than 20% in your Notice of Assessment, you cannot take the lump sum offer and still pursue a Common Law Claim for Damages for your work injury<\/a>. You must make a choice.<\/div>\n
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Typically lump sum offers of statutory compensation are quite low and will not compensate you properly for the impact your injury has on your pre-injury lifestyle and employment. \u00a0This will only be achieved by bringing a Common Law Claim for Damages for your work injury where you can claim all the loss and damage sustained because of it. It is therefore extremely important<\/strong> <\/span>that you seek the advice of expert personal injury lawyers before making any response to a these statutory lump sum offers. \u00a0Making the wrong decision can mean you miss out on significant compensation.<\/span><\/div>\n
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You can learn more about Statutory Lump Sum Offers <\/a>of compensation made with the Notice of Assessment, by reading our webpage post on this very subject.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Seeking Re-Assessment of your Degree of Permanent Impairment<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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If you don’t agree with the degree of impairment stated in the Notice of Assessment, you can choose to appeal the assessment and have your injuries reassessed by another GEPI trained doctor agreed to by the workers’ compensation insurer. If you are still not satisfied with this further assessment, you can then seek to have your injury reassessed by the Medical Assessment Tribunal (MAT). The only appeal from a reassessment by the MAT is by way of Judicial Review, which is a costly and drawn out legal process.<\/div>\n
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In the majority of cases, where a worker is intending to bring a Common Law Claim, appealing the degree of impairment is unnecessary. However, if your work injury occurred between the dates of 15 October 2013 and 30 January 2015, it may be imperative for you to seek reassessment of the degree of permanent impairment stated in your Notice of Assessment.<\/div>\n
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If your injury occurred during this time period, then you will only be entitled to bring a Common Law Claim for Damages for your work injury if you achieve a degree of permanent impairment of 6% or more. Anything less than this and you have no right to pursue Common Law Damages for your work injury. \u00a0Should your injury be subject to this threshold, and you have not achieved a 6% degree of impairment in your Notice of Assessment, it is imperative that you seek legal advice as soon as possible. Failure to do this could mean you miss out on your right to achieve full and proper compensation for your work injury.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Other circumstances where seeking reassessment of your degree of permanent impairment assessment may be advisable are:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n