An outline of your WorkCover rights (Victoria)
People on WorkCover often do not known what their rights are.
This is understandable, as for many, they’ve never needed to lodge a WorkCover claim before.
Here’s a list of your WorkCover rights as an injured employee for easy reference:
You can choose the doctors and health practitioners (eg: physiotherapists) that you want to see for treatment. You do not need to get treated by someone that your employer, the insurance company, or anyone else says you need to see. |
You have the right to be paid income benefits if your ability to work is impacted. |
You have the right to be paid reasonable medical expense costs. |
If your ability to work is impacted and you can’t work your old job due to injury or illness, you’re entitled to be offered suitable duties by the employer for a minimum of 52 weeks. |
You’re entitled to have the insurer pay for home help and gardening expenses if you struggle to perform certain tasks because of your injury. |
You have the right to go to medical appointments to see your doctor without anyone else coming into the appointment with you. |
You have the right to pursue an impairment benefit lump sum claim if you suffer a permanent impairment. |
You have the right to pursue compensation for the pain and suffering you’ve gone through, and will go through – if you can show that you have a serious injury which was contributed to by someone else’s negligence. |
You have the right to be compensated for your lost earnings – both earnings suffered to date and ongoing into the future. |
You have the right to refuse to attend a medical assessment arranged by the insurance company, if it is not reasonable for you to be assessed. For example, if you were assessed a month ago by an orthopaedic surgeon, and the insurance company organised another assessment because they didn’t like what the original surgeon said – this would be unreasonable. |
You have the right to be offered rehabilitation and retraining services if you can’t go back to your old job because of your injury and need to be retrained. |
You have the right to have your calls and emails returned by the insurance company. |
You have the right to be operated on by the surgeon of your choice. |
You have the right to be treated with respect by any doctor or health practitioner that assesses you at the request of the insurance company.
Copyright – this is original content from TheWorkInjurySite.com.au. |
Conclusion
Not having been on WorkCover or perhaps having any experience with the system, it can be difficult to know what your rights are. But you as an insured worker do have rights – plenty of them.
You should familiar yourself with the list above. This can help your WorkCover claim go as smoothly as possible, and give you the best chance of ensuring you’re not pushed around.