What do I do About Lump Sum Offers In My Notice of Assessment after workers’ comp claim?
At the end of your workers’ compensation claim, WorkCover may issue you with a Notice of Assessment.
This document will set out your work injuries and accord a percentage impairment for each injury.
The impairment for the specific injury will have a correlating monetary amount, being the statutory compensation amount for the injury.
Degree of Permanent Impairment or “DPI”
The statutory compensation accorded to each injury is taken from tables of injuries and calculations stipulated in the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Regulation 2014 at Schedule 9.
The amounts for each injury will be added up and totalled in the Notice of Assessment, and you will be given what we call a Statutory Lump Sum Offer for that total amount.
The Notice will also stipulate the total permanent impairment for your injuries (what is known as a Degree of Permanent Impairment or “DPI”).
Common Law Claim for damages for your work injuries or Statutory Lump Sum Offer?
If your total DPI is equal to or more than 20%, then you can take the Statutory Lump Sum Offer contained in your Notice of Assessment (with respect to the injuries assessed as 20% or more), and you can still bring a Common Law Claim for damages for your work injuries.
However, if your total DPI is less than 20%, then you cannot take the Statutory Lump Sum Offer and pursue a Common Law Claim – you have to make a choice as to what you wish to do, that is, take the Lump Sum Offer, or sue for damages.
If you take the Lump Sum Offer, you lose any right to seek damages for your injuries
You will only retain this right if you reject or defer the Lump Sum Offer.
The decision to take the offer, once made, is irrevocable and cannot be reversed.
You should also be aware that if you have both physical and psychiatric injuries listed in your Notice of Assessment, the DPI for these injuries are not added together when calculating the DPI. They are assessed separately.
You can either take the offer or sue, but you cannot do both.
For example, if you receive a total 10% DPI for your physical injuries, and a 10% DPI for your psychiatric injury, this does not mean you have a 20% DPI and you can take the offer and still sue, you cannot.
It is very important that you do not respond to a Notice of Assessment or Lump Sum Offer from the workers’ compensation insurer without first speaking to one of our personal injury experts.
If you take the wrong step at this stage of your claim, you may lose all rights whatsoever to significant compensation.
My workers’ comp claim has finished but I cannot return to my job – what do I do?
If at the end of your workers’ compensation claim, you are not able to return to your work with the employer, you should contact Centrelink as soon as possible to register for Newstart or Disability Benefits.
Alternatively, you may hold disability insurances attached to your superannuation scheme or through other private insurance arrangements.
You should make enquiries with these entities as to whether you have a claim for income protection payments whilst you are unable to work due to your injuries.
You may be able to draw on your superannuation
If you are suffering severe financial hardship, you may be able to draw on your superannuation and you should make enquiries with your superannuation fund to see how you may be able to apply for release of funds in the case of hardship.
If you have a mortgage, credit card repayments or car repayments etc, you may have disability insurances attached to your mortgage or loan agreements which can assist you whilst you are unable to work due to your injury. You should look into these with your lenders.
It should be pointed out that many workers think that WorkCover or the self-insurer is required to get you back to work after an injury, this is incorrect.
WorkCover is not obligated to find the worker alternate employment.
Although return to work programs are usually part of rehabilitation provided in a workers’ compensation claim, where an injured worker is no longer suited to the work they were doing prior to their injury and cannot return to it, WorkCover is not obligated to find the worker alternate employment.
The workers’ compensation insurer is only required to maintain wage payments and funding for medical and rehabilitation treatment until such time as the worker’s injuries are stable and stationary.
After that time, WorkCover’s obligations end, whether the worker is back at work or not.
Claims Have Time Limits
There is only a small window in which you can make compensation claims in Queensland
Even if you think your actions may have contributed to your injury, you may still have a claim well-worth pursuing
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