Workplace Injury Specialists

Some changes to Workers Compensation for primary psychological injuries in New South Wales will commence from 1 July 2026. These changs will not apply to exempt workers including first responders and coal miners. 1. Psychological injury must be caused by a “relevant event” Where an employer first receives notification of a primary psychological injury on or after 1 July 2026, no compensation is payable unless the injury was caused by a “relevant event”. Relevant event

On Friday the Minns Government released the exposure draft of the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 . The bill sets the work of mental health campaigners back by decades and severely discriminates against workers with psychological or psychiatric injuries. The effect of the bill as drafted is: 1. No worker will receive weekly payments of compensation for psychological injury after a maximum of 2.5 years. 2. No worker will receive support with medical or re

15-20% WPI 21-30% 31% + Self-care and personal hygiene Class 2 Mild impairment: Able to live independently; looks after self...

Permanent impairment for psychological injuries is assessed using the Permanent Impairment Rating Scale (PIRS) found in the Guidelines for the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. The PIRS requires an assessor to consider six scales relating to the worker's functioning (including activities of daily living, employability and concentration, persistence and pace) and then place the worker in a class from 1 (no deficit or minor deficit attributable to the normal variation in the

Employers are required to pay the super guarantee (currently 10.5%) on top of your ordinary time earnings ("OTE"). Workers compensation payments are not OTE (see ATO ruling SGR 2009/2) unless they are paid in respect of ordinary hours of work when you actually perform work or are required to attend work. Many modern awards, enterprise agreements and other registered agreements provide for superannuation contributions to be paid on top of workers compensation benefits. The te

If you contract Covid-19 you have to take time off work while you recover. Many employees are using their sick leave, annual leave or long service leave entitlements to cover this time off work without realising they are entitled to workers compensation benefits instead. You don't have to prove you contracted Covid-19 at work if you work in prescribed employment. If you are employed in the following sectors when you contract Covid-19, it is deemed to be a work injury: the ret

Currently volunteer bush fire fighters, SES volunteers, marine rescue, volunteer rescue association workers and surf lifesavers do not receive the same compensation under the Workers Compensation (Bush Fire, Emergency and Rescue Services) Act 1987 as paid workers in NSW receive. On 8 June 2022 the Motor Accident's and Workers Compensation Legislation Bill 2022 passed both houses of parliament. When the Bill commences, it will even the playing field ensuring these volunteers h

Under section 130(1) of the Fair Work Act 2009, there is no accrual of leave entitlements during a period where you are absent from work due to injury and receiving workers compensation payments (a compensation period). However, section 130(2) provides leave can accrue during a compensation period if the taking or accruing of leave is permitted by compensation law. Annual leave continues to accrue while you are still employed and receiving workers compensation benefits The Wo

At common law, employers are expected to have a high standard of care for their worker's safety, reflecting the level of control an employer has over the worker, the system of work and the work premises. Workers expect that if they are injured due to their employer's fault, they will receive damages like anyone else who is injured. Sadly, that is not the case in NSW. Claims for damages against an employer are restricted by the Workers Compensation Act 1987. No matter how ne

Workers Compensation payments are generally lower than a worker's normal wage and it can be hard to make ends meet. One way to stretch the budget is to use your annual leave or long service leave entitlements to top up your payments. Under section 49 of the NSW Workers Compensation Act 1987 weekly payments of compensation are payable for a period even if you receive annual leave or long service leave for the same period. If you are off work due to an injury you can apply for

If you are unable to work due to injury or illness, your employer may be liable to pay your accrued sick leave entitlements in accordance with your Award or other Agreement. When you are unable to work due to a work related injury, you may also be entitled to receive workers compensation benefits. Under section 50(2) of the NSW Workers Compensation Act 1987, the employer's liability to pay sick leave is deemed to have been satisfied by the payment of workers compensation be

Section 19B contains a presumption that certain frontline workers contracted Covid 19 during the course of their employment. This presumption recognized the risk essential frontline workers were taking while the rest of us safely isolated at home. Has that provision resulted in employers paying compensation for a large number of workers who contracted Covid 19 outside of the workplace? Unlikely. Why? It is only a presumption that can be rebutted by evidence to the contrary

In NSW Workers Compensation Claims, weekly payments for loss of wages are reduced by the worker’s “current weekly earnings”. “Current weekly earnings” is not limited to amounts actually earned by a worker, it also includes “the weekly amount that the worker is able to earn in suitable employment”. “Suitable employment” is defined in section 32A of the Workers Compensation Act and has been further explored in the case law. Generally, it is employment in work for which the wor

In Sara v G & S Sara Pty Ltd [2021] NSWPIC 286A the Personal Injury Commission awarded death benefits to the family of a worker who...

Sometimes when I meet with injured workers they are anxious about disclosing something from their past medical history for fear it will adversely impact on their current claim. Often they are relieved to discover it isn't as much of an issue as they had imagined. A workplace injury is compensable even if it only aggravates, accelerates, exacerbates or deteriorates an underlying condition. As long as an accurate history is provided to the medical experts, they can explain the

Many people assume their memories are like video recordings of events, stored away for future viewing. However, it is generally accepted among the scientific community that the human memory is not perfect and over time our recollection of events can fade while our imagination fills in the gaps. It is for that reason judges and other decision makers often give more weight to information taken down in writing immediately after the accident than your recollection of events years

In New South Wales permanent impairment thresholds determine what access a worker will have to statutory benefits and even whether claim...

As a result of a recent Court of Appeal decision in Theoret v Aces Incorporated [2021] NSWCA 3 some injured workers may be eligible for...

If you are injured at work, in a motor accident or in other circumstances where you might bring a claim against the person at fault for...

Prior to March 2021, the Workers Compensation Independent Review Office (WIRO) had been handling complaints by injured workers about...