Psychological/psychiatric claims

Under the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003, workers can apply for workers’ compensation for work related injuries, including psychiatric/psychological conditions.

These types of injuries can be caused by:

• critical incidents, for example an armed hold-up at the workplace
• other work related factors, for example bullying, harassment, or discrimination.

Just like physical work related injuries, an application for compensation for a psychological/ psychiatric injury must meet certain criteria set out in the legislation. The Act states that WorkCover Queensland must make a decision on a claim within 20 business days of receiveing the applicaiton for compensation and Workers' Compensation Medical Certificate.

How will the application be assessed?

WorkCover Queensland assesses applications involving psychiatric/psychological injuries the same way we assess other claims.

Step 1: we receive your application for psychiatric/psychological injury.

Step 2: we contact you to discuss the claim and gather relevant information about you and your injury. At this stage, we will also advise your employer that a claim has been lodged.

Step 3: we forward a summary of the factors that have caused your injury (as put foward by you) to your employer, as well as gather more information from them. We may also contact other parties or medical providers to gather other necessary information.

Step 4: we use all the of information gathered to assess your application, and then make a decision on your claim. Once we make a decision, we will send it to you in writing.

Independent examination by a psychiatrist

You may be asked to meet with an independent psychiatrist for a medical assessment of your injury - this is called an independent examination. The psychiatrist will provide information to us about your psychological condition, in addition to the information provided by you and your employer. They will not become your treating psychiatrist. We will organise this appointment for you.

How can I help the assessing process?

To help us decide your claim, you should:

• provide us with information promptly
• give us any additional evidence or documents that you think will support your application.
• attend appointments that we arrange for you.

Who assesses my application?

Your application will be assessed by one of our qualified people, who will:

• be the main contact for you, your employer, your treating general practitioner (GP) and any other medical providers
• coordinate your appointments with the psychologist or psychiatrist
• request reports from your GP and other treating professionals
• make a decision on your application based on the information gathered and according to workers’ compensation legislation.

You will need to tell your nominated contact as soon as possible if you cannot attend any of your appointments. You can also discuss any questions you may have about the claims process with them.

Please remember that our role is to decide and manage your claim for workers' compensation. It is not our role to provide counselling or to resolve issues between you and your employer

Early rehabilitation

It is important for an injured worker to received treatment for their injury as soon as possible. If your company offers a free and confidential counselling service (such as an employee assistance program), you should make sure the worker has access to use the service while their application for compensation is being assessed.

During the assessing stage, the workers' medical practitioner may certify that they can return to work. If they do, it is important that you help to develop a return to work plan. You should also maintain regular communication with the injured worker throughout the assessing process.