1. Who can make a claim for compensation?
The definition of a worker includes:
· those that work for an employer as an employee under a written or oral contract of service, and
· a “deemed worker”.
If you fall into one of the above categories and have sustained an injury either in the course of your employment, or travelling to or from work then you can make a claim for compensation.
2. How do I make a claim?
To make a claim, you must advise your employer that you have sustained an injury and provide medical information. An employer has 24 hours to advise the relevant workers’ compensation insurer of the injury. You do not need to provide a written claim form. Instead, once the insurer has been told of the injury, the following will generally occur:
· provisional liability and payments start within 7 days (although the insurer can sometimes seek up to an additional 3 weeks to do this), and
· the insurer will investigate the facts and decide to either stop or continue further payments.
The insurer may ask you to provide a written claim at a later date. After accepting provisional liability and investigating the matter, the insurer needs to determine if the following has occurred:
· the person is a worker or deemed worker, and
· the injury occurred at work on the way to or from work and that work is a substantial contributing factor to the injury.
If the insurer declines liability for your claim, don’t despair! Get in touch with specialist lawyers like Littles, who can provide you with high quality legal advice on how you can proceed.
3. What am I entitled to claim?
If your injury has been caused by the negligence of your employer, compensation may be payable for:
· lost income (both past and future)
· lost superannuation, and
· your permanent disability / impairment.
When claiming damages, strict time limits apply and relevant parties must be notified within a certain timeframe.
Read more here: Help! My NSW workers’ compensation claim has been rejected. What do I do? – Littles
