Do I have to make a WorkCover claim?

No, you definitely don’t need to make a WorkCover claim if you’ve suffered an injury or illness related to your employment. It’s completely up to you whether you wish to lodge a claim or not.

You can also elect not to lodge a WorkCover claim now, but lodge one in the future. It’s up to you.

Here’s a few things to consider when deciding whether to lodge a claim:

You may wish to lodge a WorkCover claim if:

• You might need some time off work because of your injury and want income payments
• You want to have your medical expenses paid for
• You’re not sure how long you might need off work (or how long you’ll need to work on restricted duties)
• You’re not sure how much medical treatment you may actually need
• You’re likely to need ongoing medical treatment
• You want to be compensated by way of a lump sum
• Your capacity to earn an income into the future has been impacted because of your injury
• You need assistance around the home (in the form of home help and gardening) because of your injury.

Reasons why you might not want to lodge a claim:

• You’re not sure how your injury will progress (and therefore what your treatment needs will be, or how your ability to work will be impacted)
• You’re worried about what impact a WorkCover claim might have on your employment
• You are certain that you don’t need any (or very little) medical treatment for your injury.
• You are certain that you don’t need any time off work because of your injury (or if you do, you’re happy to use your sick leave).
• You don’t want to go through the WorkCover process
• You have income protection and would prefer to use that instead of WorkCover to cover your wages. This article should help you if you’re trying to decide between the two.
• You don’t want to pursue lump sum compensation.
• If you’re not sure whether to lodge a claim or not, this post and this post hopefully should help you.

As mentioned above, keep in mind that you don’t need to lodge a claim immediately if you’re not ready to. This article explores that issue further.

There are reporting requirements when you’ve suffered an injury. And the longer that you wait to lodge a claim, generally speaking, the less likely it is to be accepted.

If you’ve decided to lodge a WorkCover claim and need a blank copy of the claim form, you can get that on this page.

If you want to read about how long you have to lodge a WorkCover claim, you can do so here. And if you’re wondering how long a claim usually takes, you can read about that on this page.

Also, one thing worth mentioning: just because you report an injury doesn’t mean you automatically have a WorkCover claim. In order to have a WorkCover claim, you need to complete and lodge a WorkCover claim form.

Finally, it can sometimes help the decision making process if you have some guide as to what compensation amounts you may be entitled to. 

Conclusion

You don’t need to lodge a WorkCover claim if you don’t want to.

It’s up to you whether you want to pursue a claim or not.

And if you report an injury, that doesn’t mean you automatically have a WorkCover claim, and it doesn’t mean you need to lodge a WorkCover claim.

If you have decided that you want to lodge a claim, you can get a copy of the WorkCover claim form on this page.