Making multiple WorkCover claims

You may have multiple WorkCover claims – either relating to an injury impacting one body part or multiple different injuries.

Additionally, you may lodge multiple WorkCover claims relating to the same employer or multiple employers.

Instances in which you might have multiple WorkCover claims:

Multiple claims relating to the same body part with the same employer

It’s possible to have multiple WorkCover claims accepted relating to the same body part with the same employer.

Here’s a common example:

Say you have a back injury that was initially injured during the course of your employment and you lodge and have accepted a WorkCover claim.

You return to work with this employer but suffer an aggravation of your back.

Depending upon medical opinion, it may be appripriate in this instance to lodge a new WorkCover claim, relating to your existing employment, based on an aggravation of your back injury.

You’re able to lodge and have accepted an aggravation injury relating to the same body part and if that claim is accepted, you’ll get a new set of rights and WorkCover entitlements under that new claim.

Multiple claims relating to different injuries with same employer

You can have multiple WorkCover claims relating to different injuries with the same employer.

For example, you might have a claim relating to a shoulder injury, a back injury, and industrial hearing loss.

There is no restriction on the number of WorkCover claims a person can have with the same employer.

Multiple claims relating to the same body part with different employers

Say you sustain an injury, say to your shoulder, while working with one employer and lodge and have accepted a WorkCover claim.

If you were to leave that employer and go to a new job, and if you were to aggravate that shoulder injury, in certain instances you may want to lodge a new claim relating to the aggravation of the shoulder injury with that new employer.

If this aggravation claim was accepted, you would get a new set of rights and entitlements under WorkCover.

That is, you’d be entitled to the payment of medical and like expenses under your new claim, you may be entitled to the payment of weekly payments under the new claim (even if you had exhausted your entitlement to weekly payments under the original, pre aggravation claim).

You may also have an entitlement to lump sum compensation via an impairment claim (even if you’ve previously had an impartment claim relating to the original shoulder injury claim).

You may also have an entitlement to a common law lump sum.

Multiple claims relating to different injuries with different employers

Perhaps the most obvious of this list – you’re able to have multiple WorkCover claims relating to different injuries sustained with different employers.

May still have WorkCover entitlements under previous claims

If you have had multiple WorkCover claims accepted in the past, there’s a possibility that you may have still have entitlements under your old claims.

WorkCover doesn’t really stop – it just exhausts.

What this means is that if you’ve lodged and had accepted a WorkCover claim, that claim remains there for you to use if you need it.

So if you’ve lodged WorkCover claims in the past and haven’t exhausted the entitlements under that claim, you may still be able to utilise that claim.

You may still have an entitlement to claim medical expenses.

If a significant period of time has passed (ie: years) since you’ve claimed any medical expenses under the claim, the insurer will likely want medical material that addresses the connection between the original injury and the need for treatment.

You may have an entitlement to weekly payments (if it’s been a while since you’ve claimed weekly payments or you have returned to full duties after the injury, the insurer will likely require medical material before they reinstate your weekly payments).

You may have an entitlement to an impairment lump sum claim.

You may even have an entitlement a common law claim (depending upon whether the statutute of limitations has run).

List of WorkCover claims

If you aren’t sure what WorkCover claims you’ve lodged, here’s how you can get a list of your claims.

These are claims that have been registered with WorkSafe.

If any of your claims have been handled by self insurers, they won’t show up on this list.

To get a list of the WorkCover claims that you have lodged, you can contact WorkSafe and ask them to send you a list. You’ll need to provide your basic contact information as well as your employer details.

Many lawyers, if you engage them to assist you with your WorkCover matter, will do this on your behalf.

Conclusion

It is possible for an injured person to lodge multiple WorkCover claims. This might involve lodging multiple claims relating to the same body part (in the event of an aggravation injury) or different body parts and injuries.

It might also involve lodging multiple WorkCover claims relating to the one employer, or multiple employers.

There is no restriction on how many WorkCover claims a person can lodge.

If you have lodged multiple WorkCover claims in the past, you may still have entitlements under previous claims that you are yet to exhaust.

If you’ve lodged multiple WorkCover claims in the past and not sure about the details of those claims (claim numbers, insurer) you can contact the WorkSafe advisory service.