Many workers are confused when it comes to their rights in a work place accident and understanding that there are two types of claims that can occur in a Workers Compensation matter.

The first claim that you will make if you have been injured at work or on your way to work is called a Statutory Claim. This claim is started when you fill in an application and lodge it with WorkCover or your employer’s self-insurer. It is more than likely your employer will hold their accident insurance policy with WorkCover.  Once WorkCover has approved your claim you will start being able to receiving benefits which may include weekly compensation for lost wages, rehabilitation and medical treatment, travel costs and funeral and death benefits. To finalise the Statutory Claim, WorkCover may assess you for a permanent impairment percentage and then make you a small lump sum offer to compensate you for injuries.

This is the crucial point in which you need to seek legal advice from one of our personal injury lawyers. If you have been assessed with a permanent impairment of 20% and above, then you will be able to both accept the lump sum offer from the statutory claim and then you may also be able to proceed to running a common law claim as well. Should you have been assessed with a permanent impairment of 20% and under, then you will have to decide whether you wish to proceed with a common law claim which would mean you have to reject the lump sum offer of the statutory claim. We will provide you with free advice on what your options are going forward to ensure that you get the compensation that you deserve.

The second claim that you may be proceed to is called the Common Law Claim.You cannot make a common law claim without first having made a statutory claim. While a statutory claim is a no fault scheme which does not look at who is liable for the accident and simply protects a worker in the event of an accident, a common law claim does consider who is at fault for the injury. For a common law claim to be successful your employer’s negligence needs to be proven in their breach of their duty to provide a safe and supervised work environment.

Our job as expert Workers Compensation Lawyers is to smoothly run a workers’ compensation claim and obtain you the maximum settlement amount to compensate you for the injuries you have sustained at work. This area of law is extremely complicated and it is risky to attempt running the claim yourself self as it could even mean you end up with little or no compensation.  We cannot stress the importance of seeking expert advice even if it is just for a free initial meeting to discuss your personal injury. After all it is your right to be able to go to work and return home again without suffering an injury.

To speak to a Lawyer immediately call our office on 07 3416 4999.