If you suffer an injury at work you are entitled to recover compensation under the Workers Compensation Act 1987.
In order to ensure that you recover the compensation to which you are entitled it is important to ensure that the injury is reported to your employer and that the register of injuries is properly completed as well.
If the injury sustained by you requires you to take time off work then you must provide your employer with a WorkCover Certificate of Capacity which can be obtained from your general practitioner. If the injury requires you to be off work for longer than 12 weeks or requires medical treatment that may cost more than $7,500 then a workers compensation claim form should be completed and lodged with your employer. The WorkCover NSW website has a claim form that can be downloaded and completed.
A number of the workers compensation insurers also have claim forms available online for completion.
A workers compensation claim should be made within six months of the date of injury. It is also advisable to lodge a claim within eight weeks of the date of injury. This is because if a claim is not lodged within eight weeks of the date of injury the insurer can “reasonably excuse” the claim and not immediately commence making payments of weekly benefits of compensation whilst you are off work.
There may also be a claim available to you for lump sum benefits commensurate with the degree of impairment which you suffer as a result of the injuries. Compensation is available if the degree of impairment is greater than 10. This claim is made by lodging a medical report from a specialist which identifies the degree of impairment that you suffer.
Brydens Lawyers are the experts in the prosecution of workers compensation claims on behalf of injured workers.
For over 40 years now Brydens Lawyers has been operating a ‘No Win – No Fee”, policy which, simply put, provides that if a personal injury or compensation client is unsuccessful in their claim then Brydens Lawyers will not raise a tax invoice for having acted on behalf of the client. That is, if the claim is unsuccessful we do not get paid. More information about how this works can be found on our No Win – No Fee page.