WorkCover claims in Queensland: the complete guide

Being hurt at work is unsettling enough without a maze of forms, deadlines and unfamiliar words like “DPI”, “notice of assessment” and “election”. This guide sets out, in plain English, how workers’ compensation works in Queensland, what you are entitled to, the decisions you may have to make, and the points at which getting them wrong can cost you. It is written for the injured worker and their family, not for lawyers.

Our aim is to help you understand your rights and your position. Nothing here is a substitute for advice on your own circumstances, and at several points below we explain why a conversation early on can change the outcome. This is general information about Queensland law, current as at 14 July 2026; it is not legal advice for your situation.

What WorkCover is: a no-fault statutory scheme

Queensland runs a compulsory workers’ compensation scheme under the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld). Almost every employer in the State must hold a workers’ compensation policy, and for most employers that insurer is WorkCover Queensland. Some large employers are licenced to self-insure, but the worker’s rights are broadly the same.

The defining feature of the statutory scheme is that it is no-fault. To receive statutory benefits you do not have to show that your employer, a co-worker or anyone else did anything wrong. You generally need to show that you are a “worker” (broadly, a person who works under a contract and is an employee for PAYG withholding purposes: Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld) s 11), that you have sustained an injury, and that your employment was a significant contributing factor to that injury (s 32). If those things are met, benefits flow regardless of blame.

That no-fault feature is what makes the statutory scheme fast and accessible. It is also why, on its own, it does not fully compensate you for everything a serious injury takes from you. For that, you may need the second pathway, common-law damages, which we come to below.

Two further points are worth holding in mind from the outset:

1. The statutory scheme and the common-law claim are different things, with different tests, different benefits and different deadlines. Many workers run the statutory claim first and only later consider damages.
2. The choices you make in the statutory scheme, particularly when a lump sum is offered, can close off the common-law pathway, subject only to a narrow statutory exception. We explain this under the heading on the 20% election.

How to lodge a claim, and the six-month time limit (s 131)

You start a statutory claim by applying to the insurer (usually WorkCover Queensland). In practice this means reporting the injury, seeing a doctor, and lodging an application for compensation in the approved form, accompanied by a certificate from a doctor who attended you (s 132). The insurer must then allow or reject your application, and must make that decision within 20 business days (s 134).

The deadline is the part most worth understanding. Under s 131, an application for compensation is valid only if it is lodged within six months after the entitlement to compensation arises. There is some flexibility built around that rule, but it cuts both ways:

1. If you lodge more than 20 business days after the entitlement arises, the insurer’s liability is limited to a period that starts no earlier than 20 business days before your valid application is lodged. In plain terms, lodging late can mean you lose backdated benefits for the gap.
2. The six-month limit can be waived in defined situations: on the ground of special medical circumstances (through a tribunal), or where the failure to lodge in time was due to a mistake, your absence from the State, or another reasonable cause (s 131).

The safe approach is simply to lodge as soon as you reasonably can. Waivers exist, but they are not guaranteed, and relying on one means arguing about why you were late instead of getting on with your recovery. If you are already close to or past six months, that is a reason to get advice quickly rather than to assume the door has closed.

Statutory benefits at a high level

Once a statutory claim is accepted, the scheme provides several kinds of support while you recover. At a high level these are:

1. Weekly compensation to replace lost income while you cannot work or are working reduced hours. For a totally incapacitated worker this is generally 85% of your normal weekly earnings for the first 26 weeks, stepping down to a lower percentage after that (ss 150, 151), and subject to a maximum linked to Queensland ordinary time earnings. Weekly payments stop at the earliest of your incapacity ending, your having received payments for 5 years, or your compensation reaching the statutory maximum (s 144A).
2. Medical, hospital and treatment expenses reasonably required because of the injury, such as doctors, specialists, surgery, imaging, physiotherapy and medication.
3. Rehabilitation costs aimed at your recovery and your return to work. The insurer must take all reasonable steps to secure your rehabilitation and early return to suitable duties (s 220).
4. Travel and incidental expenses connected with treatment in some cases.

We have deliberately not put dollar figures against the maximums and thresholds. The amounts are fixed by regulation, are indexed and change each 1 July, so if you want to know what your own entitlement looks like in dollars and over what period, that is best checked against the current regulation or with us, rather than relying on a general figure you have read online.

Return to work and rehabilitation

The scheme is built around getting you back to health and, where possible, back to work. Both you and your employer have obligations in that process. The insurer must take all reasonable steps to secure your rehabilitation and early return to suitable duties (s 220), and you must satisfactorily participate in rehabilitation; if you fail or refuse to participate without a reasonable excuse, the insurer may suspend your entitlement to compensation (s 232).

“Suitable duties” does not mean being pushed back into the very tasks that injured you. It means modified or alternative work consistent with your medical capacity. If what is being offered does not match your certificate, or if you feel pressured to do more than your doctor allows, that is worth raising early, because participation in rehabilitation can affect your benefits.

Permanent impairment, DPI, the notice of assessment and the lump sum (s 178, s 179, s 185, s 180, s 187)

When your injury has stabilised, the question becomes whether you are left with any permanent impairment. This is one of the most important stages of a statutory claim, because it can lead to a lump sum and it is the gateway to the choice we discuss in the next section.

The steps are these:

1. Assessment of permanent impairment (s 178, s 179). Your injury may be assessed for a degree of permanent impairment, or DPI, expressed as a percentage. Who assesses it depends on the type of injury: a medical assessment tribunal assesses psychiatric or psychological injury, an audiologist assesses industrial deafness, and a doctor assesses other injuries (s 179).
2. Notice of assessment (s 185). Within 10 business days of receiving the impairment assessment, the insurer must give you a notice of assessment. That notice must state whether you have a permanent impairment, what the DPI is, and the lump sum amount worked out under s 180 (s 185).
3. How the lump sum is calculated (s 180). The lump sum compensation is calculated under a regulation by reference to your DPI (s 180). A higher DPI produces a higher lump sum. The dollar amount per percentage point is set by regulation and indexed each 1 July, so the current figure should be checked against the regulation in force when the offer is made.
4. The offer (s 187). If you are entitled to a lump sum, the insurer must include an offer of that lump sum compensation in the notice of assessment (s 187).

When the notice of assessment arrives, do not rush to sign or tick anything. It is a formal document with legal consequences, and the box you tick can be irreversible. This is the single most common moment at which workers unknowingly give up valuable rights. The reason is the “election”, which is the subject of the next section.

The two pathways and the pivotal 20% election (s 189, s 239, s 237)

Queensland law treats workers differently depending on how serious their permanent impairment is. The dividing line is a DPI of 20%.

If your DPI is less than 20% (or there is no DPI)

You must make an irrevocable election (s 189, s 239). You choose one of two things:

1. Accept the lump sum offered in the notice of assessment; or
2. Seek common-law damages against your employer (if you have grounds).

You cannot do both. The Act describes this as an irrevocable election: once you accept the lump sum, you generally cannot later change your mind and sue for damages, even if the damages claim would have been worth far more. There is one narrow exception. Under s 266, if you accepted the lump sum and your injury later deteriorates in a way that was not expected when your impairment was assessed, and fresh medical evidence establishes both a further 10% or more of DPI and a total DPI of 20% or more, you may be allowed to seek damages despite the earlier acceptance. It is a limited statutory review, not a general right to reconsider, so you should not count on it when you decide.

There is also a deadline for responding. You have a decision period of 20 business days after the notice of assessment is given, and within it you may accept, reject or defer the offer by written notice; if you do not respond, you are treated as having deferred (s 189). That period does more than frame the election. Under s 190, your entitlement to further compensation for the injury ends at the earlier of when you tell the insurer your decision during the decision period and 20 business days after you receive the offer. Because both accepting the offer and simply letting the period run can affect your ongoing weekly, medical and rehabilitation payments, this is a point on which to get advice before you respond.

This is why the notice of assessment deserves careful thought and, frankly, advice. A modest lump sum accepted in the post can foreclose a much larger common-law claim.

If your DPI is 20% or more

The Act treats serious injuries differently. Where your DPI is 20% or more, you are not forced to choose. You may keep the statutory lump sum and pursue common-law damages (the practical effect of s 237, s 189 and s 239 read together). The irrevocable election simply does not bite at this level.

Who may seek damages at all (s 237)

Section 237 sets out who is entitled to seek damages. In broad terms, the people who may pursue a common-law claim are:

1. a worker who has a notice of assessment;
2. a worker with a DPI of 20% or more, or who has made the election under s 239;
3. a worker with a terminal condition; or
4. a dependant of a worker, in defined circumstances (for example, where a worker has died).

The takeaway is straightforward. For workers under the 20% threshold, the lump sum and the damages claim are an either-or decision with no second chances, and the notice of assessment is the trigger. For workers at or above 20%, both pathways remain open. Either way, understanding which side of the line you fall on, and what your damages claim might involve, before you respond to the notice of assessment, is critical.

The common-law claim and employer negligence

A common-law claim is fundamentally different from the statutory claim. It is not no-fault. To succeed you must prove that your employer (or another party) was negligent and that their negligence caused your injury.

A negligence claim requires you to establish several elements: that the employer owed you a duty of care; that the employer breached that duty, meaning there was a foreseeable and not insignificant risk that a reasonable employer in its position would have guarded against (Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld) s 305B); that the breach caused your injury (s 305D); and that the loss you claim is of a kind the law will compensate. A damages claim against an employer is governed by chapter 5 of that Act, and the Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) does not supply the governing negligence test because its s 5 excludes an injury for which compensation is payable under the workers’ compensation scheme. Employers owe their workers a well-established duty to provide a safe system of work, safe equipment, proper training and a safe workplace, so the practical question is usually whether reasonable care was taken in the particular circumstances.

What makes the common-law pathway worth understanding is what it compensates. Unlike the statutory scheme, a damages claim can compensate you for matters such as past and future loss of earnings (capped at the present value of three times Queensland ordinary time earnings, or QOTE, for each week of loss: Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld) s 306I), future treatment and care, and general damages for pain and suffering, calculated under the prescribed WorkCover scale (s 306P). For a serious injury, that can be substantially more than the statutory lump sum, which is precisely why the election under the 20% threshold matters so much.

We have not put figures on what a particular claim is worth. That depends entirely on the individual, the injury and the evidence, and the caps and calculation rules above govern how it is worked out. Anyone who quotes you a number from a website is guessing.

The common-law process and time limits (s 275, s 289, s 300, s 302 and the Limitation Act)

A common-law claim follows a structured, pre-litigation process designed to encourage settlement before any court proceeding is needed. The key steps and deadlines are:

1. Notice of claim for damages (s 275). Before starting a court proceeding for damages, you must give the insurer a notice of claim for damages (s 275). This is a formal document that effectively opens the common-law claim.
2. Compulsory conference (s 289). Before a proceeding can start, the parties must hold a compulsory conference and genuinely attempt to settle the claim (s 289). A claim may resolve at or around this conference, or it may continue to a court proceeding; which occurs depends on the evidence and the parties’ positions, and no particular outcome is predicted.
3. Limitation period and the 60-day rules (the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld) s 11, and ss 300 and 302). A damages proceeding must be brought within the general limitation period. Under s 11 of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld), that period is three years from the date of injury for a personal injury claim. Two separate 60-day rules sit alongside that limitation period and must not be confused with it. Under s 300(3), if the claim is not settled at the compulsory conference, the legal process that starts the proceeding must be served on the employer within 60 days after the conference, unless the court, on your application, allows a further period. Section 302 is a different provision: it can preserve a proceeding brought after the general limitation period has ended, but only where a complying notice of claim was given, or compliance waived, or a court declaration or leave obtained, before that period expired, and in that case the proceeding must be brought within 60 days after the compulsory conference. The general limitation period and each of these rules must be worked out separately for your claim.

The interaction of these deadlines is genuinely tricky, and it is one of the easiest ways to lose an otherwise good claim. The three-year limitation period runs from the date of your injury and waits for no one. At the same time, you cannot simply file in court at the last minute, because the pre-court steps, the notice of claim and the compulsory conference, take time and must happen first. If you are anywhere near the three-year mark, you should treat that as urgent.

The WorkCover refund and the gross-to-net reality (s 270)

There is one feature of Queensland law that surprises many workers, and it is important to understand before you celebrate a settlement figure. Where you recover common-law damages against your employer for the injury, those damages are reduced by the amount of compensation already paid or payable to you for that injury (s 270). A separate provision, s 207B, imposes a first charge where damages are instead recovered independently of the Act from another person, such as a negligent third party. Which provision applies depends on who the damages are recovered from, so the defendant and the statutory pathway need to be identified before working out any repayment.

The consequence is a gap between the headline figure and what reaches your pocket. A damages award or settlement against the employer is a gross figure; the net amount you actually receive is reduced by the s 270 amount for the compensation already paid (and, separately, by your own legal costs and any other deductions that apply). This is why it can be misleading to compare a damages figure with a statutory lump sum without accounting for that reduction. Any sensible assessment of whether a damages claim is worthwhile has to be done on a net basis.

Psychological injury claims

Workers’ compensation in Queensland is not limited to physical injury. Psychological and psychiatric injuries, such as work-related stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress, can be compensable too, provided your employment is a significant contributing factor to the injury (s 32). The Act treats them differently from physical injuries, and there is one particular hurdle.

That hurdle is the concept of reasonable management action. A psychological injury is generally not compensable where it arises out of reasonable management action taken in a reasonable way by the employer, for example genuine and fair performance management, a lawful direction, or a properly conducted disciplinary process, or out of the worker’s expectation or perception of such action (s 32). The line between conduct that is reasonable management and conduct that is not, such as bullying or a process run unfairly, is often where these claims are won or lost. Psychological injuries are also assessed for permanent impairment by a medical assessment tribunal rather than by a single doctor (s 179).

These claims can be evidence-intensive and emotionally difficult, and the legal tests are nuanced. If you are dealing with a psychological injury from work, early advice on whether the circumstances are likely to fall inside or outside the reasonable management action exclusion is particularly valuable.

Your job security while on WorkCover

A common and very human worry is whether making a claim, or being off work, will cost you your job. Workers do have legal protections. Within 12 months of your injury, your employer must not dismiss you solely or mainly because you are not fit for your position because of the injury (Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld) s 232B). Separate protections may also apply under the Commonwealth Fair Work Act 2009, including against dismissal because of a temporary absence due to illness or injury, and the general protections against adverse action for exercising a workplace right.

The detail matters here, and it sits partly in Queensland law and partly in Commonwealth workplace law, so it is genuinely a question to get advice on. If your employment is threatened while you are on a claim, or you have already been dismissed, do not assume nothing can be done, and equally do not assume you are automatically protected. The position depends on the facts and the timing.

What to do if your claim is rejected

A rejected claim is not necessarily the end of the road. Queensland’s scheme contains a structured review and appeal process:

1. Review by the Regulator. You can apply to the Workers’ Compensation Regulator for a review of the insurer’s decision, generally within 3 months after you receive written notice of the decision and its reasons (s 542). The Regulator may allow further time in special circumstances.
2. The review decision. The Regulator must review the decision and decide within 25 business days of receiving your application, either confirming, varying or setting aside the decision (s 545).
3. Appeal. A review decision can then be appealed to an appeal body, the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, generally within 20 business days after you receive notice of the review decision (s 549, s 550).

Because each stage has its own deadline, and those deadlines are short, a rejection letter is something to act on promptly rather than to sit with. If your claim has been knocked back, or your benefits have been stopped or reduced and you disagree, that is a clear point at which to get advice on whether there are grounds to challenge the decision and how long you have to do it.

Do you need a lawyer?

You are not legally required to have a lawyer to make a statutory WorkCover claim, and many straightforward statutory claims proceed without one. So the honest answer is: it depends on what is at stake.

A conversation with a lawyer tends to matter most at the decision points, rather than the form-filling. In particular:

1. When a notice of assessment arrives. Because the election is irrevocable apart from a narrow exception (s 189, s 239, s 266), and the decision period is only 20 business days, understanding your options before you respond can be decisive.
2. When a common-law claim is in prospect. Proving the employer’s negligence (Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld) ss 305B to 305D), valuing the claim on a net basis after the s 270 reduction for compensation already paid, and navigating the pre-court process and its deadlines (ss 275, 289, 300 and 302) is where experience counts.
3. When something has gone wrong. A rejected claim, stopped benefits, a job-security problem, or a looming time limit are all moments where advice can change the outcome.

Our role at these moments is to help you understand your rights and your position so that you can make an informed decision, not to push you in any direction. Often the most valuable thing we do is simply explain, in plain terms, what a document means and what choosing one option over another would mean for you.

1. What is WorkCover, exactly? WorkCover is Queensland’s statutory, no-fault workers’ compensation scheme under the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld). It provides benefits to injured workers without their having to prove anyone was at fault. For most employers, the insurer is WorkCover Queensland.

2. Do I have to prove my employer did something wrong to get benefits? No. The statutory scheme is no-fault. You generally need to show you are a worker (s 11), that you were injured, and that your work was a significant contributing factor to the injury (s 32). Fault only becomes relevant if you pursue a separate common-law damages claim.

3. How long do I have to lodge a claim? A statutory application is generally valid only if lodged within six months of your entitlement arising (s 131). Lodging more than 20 business days late can limit your backdated benefits, and the time limit can be waived in defined circumstances, but the safe course is to lodge promptly.

4. What benefits can I receive? Typically weekly income replacement (generally 85% of normal weekly earnings for the first 26 weeks, stepping down after that: ss 150, 151), medical and hospital expenses, and rehabilitation costs while you recover, and sometimes a lump sum for permanent impairment. The rates, caps and duration are set by the Act and regulation and change over time.

5. What is a “DPI” and a “notice of assessment”? DPI is your degree of permanent impairment, a percentage assessed once your injury stabilises (s 179). The notice of assessment is the formal document the insurer must give you, stating whether you have a permanent impairment, what the DPI is, and the lump sum on offer (s 185, s 180, s 187).

6. Why does the 20% figure keep coming up? It is the threshold that decides whether you have to choose. If your DPI is less than 20%, you must make an irrevocable election between the lump sum and a common-law claim (s 189, s 239). If it is 20% or more, you can keep the lump sum and still pursue damages (s 237).

7. Should I just accept the lump sum offered? Not automatically. If your DPI is under 20%, accepting the lump sum is ordinarily final and closes off a common-law claim that might be worth much more (s 189, s 239). A narrow exception can apply if your injury later deteriorates unexpectedly and reaches a further 10% of DPI and a total of at least 20% (s 266), but you should not count on it. You also have only 20 business days to decide (s 190), so it is worth understanding your full position before you respond to the notice of assessment.

8. What is a common-law claim and how is it different? It is a claim for damages based on your employer’s negligence, so unlike the statutory scheme it requires proof of fault (Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld) ss 305B to 305D). It can compensate for things the statutory scheme does not, such as pain and suffering and future losses (s 306I, s 306P), which is why it can be more valuable for serious injuries.

9. If I win a common-law claim, do I keep all of it? No. Where you recover damages against your employer, the damages are reduced by the compensation already paid or payable to you for the injury (s 270), so what you keep is the gross figure less that reduction and your legal costs. A separate provision, s 207B, applies where damages are instead recovered independently of the Act from a third party. Always think in net terms.

10. Can I claim for a psychological or stress injury? Yes, psychological and psychiatric injuries can be compensable where employment is a significant contributing factor (s 32), but they are treated differently. A key limit is that injuries arising from reasonable management action taken reasonably are generally excluded (s 32), and permanent impairment is assessed by a medical assessment tribunal (s 179).

11. Can I be sacked for being on WorkCover? Within 12 months of your injury, your employer must not dismiss you solely or mainly because you are not fit for your position because of the injury (s 232B). Separate protections may also apply under the Commonwealth Fair Work Act 2009. If your job is at risk, get advice rather than assume the answer either way.

12. My claim was rejected. Is that the end? Not necessarily. You can apply to the Regulator for a review (generally within 3 months: s 542), the Regulator must decide within 25 business days (s 545), and a review decision can be appealed to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (generally within 20 business days: s 549, s 550). Because the deadlines are short, act promptly.

Talk to us about where you stand

Workers’ compensation in Queensland is navigable, but it is full of moments where a single decision, often one made under stress and on a deadline, shapes everything that follows. The notice of assessment, the 20% election, the common-law time limits and the WorkCover refund are the obvious examples.

If you have been injured at work, or a family member has, the most useful first step is usually to understand your rights and your position clearly. Contact Fraser Lawyers for a conversation about your circumstances. We will explain, in plain language, where you stand and what your options are, so that whatever you decide, you decide it with your eyes open.

Sources and currency

The legal points in this guide come from the primary Queensland and Commonwealth legislation below, current as at 14 July 2026:

• Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld): the statutory scheme, including the six-month application limit (s 131), the assessment of permanent impairment and notice of assessment (ss 178 to 185), the calculation of the lump sum (s 180), the decision period and the effect of accepting a lump-sum offer (ss 189 and 190), the election where DPI is under 20% and the narrow deterioration exception (ss 239 and 266), who may seek damages (s 237), the negligence test for a common law claim against an employer (ss 305B to 305D), the notice of claim and compulsory conference (ss 275 and 289), the service of the originating process on the employer and the alteration of the limitation period (ss 300 and 302), the caps on common law damages (ss 306I and 306P), the reduction of employer damages for the compensation already paid (s 270) and the first charge on damages recovered independently of the Act from a third party (s 207B).
• Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld) s 11: the 3-year limitation period for personal injury.
• Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) s 5: this Act does not govern a workers’ compensation damages claim against an employer, because s 5 excludes an injury for which compensation is payable under the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld); the employer’s negligence test is instead found in that Act, at breach (s 305B) and causation (s 305D).
• Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth): the Commonwealth protections against dismissal and adverse action referred to under job security.

Queensland legislation is published at legislation.qld.gov.au and Commonwealth legislation at legislation.gov.au; both are periodically amended, so the current in-force version should always be checked. Lump sum, weekly benefit and damages amounts are fixed by regulation and indexed each 1 July, so any figure must be checked against the amounts in force for the relevant period.

Related reading

• WorkCover vs common law: the 20% impairment decision
• Should you accept your WorkCover lump sum offer?
• How Fraser Lawyers helps with WorkCover claims
• Contact Fraser Lawyers

This article is general information only and is not legal advice. Queensland law and the figures referred to can change, and every situation turns on its own facts. Contact Fraser Lawyers for advice specific to your circumstances.

If you would like to discuss your matter, you can book a consultation or call (07) 5554 6116.