If you believe your employer or their insurer has given a false account of what happened to you, or has held back documents that would support your claim, you are not imagining the problem and you are not without options.
It happens often enough that the Queensland courts have dealt with it directly. When they have found it, they have not been forgiving.
This page covers what a court did about it in one case, what you can do to protect your own claim, and when it is worth getting advice.
Does it actually matter to my claim?
Yes. Both sides in a Queensland workers’ compensation claim have a legal duty to cooperate and to hand over documents relevant to the claim. That duty comes from section 279 of the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld). It is not optional, and it does not only apply to you.
When a party ignores it, courts can and do respond.
What the court did in Francis v MSF Sugar Limited
In November 2019 the Queensland Supreme Court dealt with an application in Francis v MSF Sugar Limited. The worker had been injured at work and was seeking damages through a common law claim. The employer asked the court to adjourn the trial, which was listed to start that same day.
The reason an adjournment was needed was that a document had finally been disclosed on the eve of trial. It should have been produced far earlier. It contained information that contradicted the defence the employer had been running, and it supported the injured worker’s version of events.
The court refused to adjourn. It dismissed the application, ordered the employer to take part in the trial later that day, and ordered them to pay the costs of the application. The judge found that WorkCover had “conducted itself in this court quite unreasonably, failing to disclose directly relevant documents until the eve of trial”.
The court was also critical of how the defence had been put together, which appeared to have been prepared without proper inquiry into whether it was actually true.
Rather than run the four day trial, the parties resolved the matter.
Two things are worth taking from that. A court treated the late disclosure of a damaging document as serious misconduct rather than an administrative slip. And the moment that document surfaced, the position of the injured worker changed completely.
What to do if you think this is happening in your claim
- 1Write things down as they happen.Keep a record of the injury itself, every medical appointment, and every conversation with your employer, your supervisor and the insurer. Note dates, names and what was said. Notes made at the time carry weight that a recollection written months later does not.
- 2Preserve anything physical.Damaged equipment, the clothing you were wearing, the object involved, photographs of the scene. Ask in writing that CCTV be preserved, and do it quickly, because most systems overwrite footage within weeks.
- 3Keep the paperwork.Incident reports, medical certificates, correspondence from the insurer, anything you signed. If you were asked to sign something you did not fully understand, keep a copy and note the circumstances.
- 4Be straight yourself.Your own credibility is the most valuable thing you have in a disputed claim. Overstating an injury, or leaving out an earlier one, does more damage to your position than almost anything the other side can do.
- 5Ask for advice early rather than late.Evidence is easiest to secure at the start. Once footage is overwritten or a witness has moved on, it is often gone for good.
A dispute is not the same as dishonesty
Not every disagreement means someone is lying.
Insurers and employers frequently see the same events differently, and a genuine dispute about how an injury happened, or how serious it is, is normal in a contested claim. Doctors disagree. Witnesses remember things differently. None of that is misconduct.
What happened in Francis was different. A relevant document that should have been handed over was not, and a defence appeared not to have been checked against the evidence.
It is worth taking a closer look at your claim if:
What if your boss tells you not to claim?
Some employers go further than disputing a claim. They tell you not to lodge one, get angry when you ask for the forms, offer to cover your costs privately, or suggest you say the injury happened at home.
You do not need your employer’s permission to claim. You lodge the application with the insurer yourself, with a certificate from a doctor who treated you (section 132 of the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld)). Your employer can give its side of the story, but the decision belongs to the insurer.
Your employer has duties of its own. It must report an injury to the insurer immediately once it knows about it or you report it, and failing to do so within 8 business days is an offence unless it has a reasonable excuse (section 133). It must also tell the insurer if you ask it for compensation, or if it pays you an amount instead of compensation (section 133A).
An offer to pay your costs privately can sound easier for everyone, but it carries real risks:
- The payments can stop whenever your employer changes its mind, or you leave.
- The time limit keeps running. An application generally has to be lodged within 6 months after your entitlement arises, and lodging after the first 20 business days can limit how far back the insurer has to pay (section 131).
- Injuries that seem minor can get worse. If you need surgery or more time off a year later, the lack of a claim and early records can make things much harder.
Never agree to say the injury happened somewhere else. It is an offence to tell the insurer something you know is false or misleading (section 534), and defrauding an insurer is a separate and more serious offence (section 533). It could also destroy your credibility in any later claim, because your account has to match what you told your doctor.
If this is happening to you:
- Report the injury to your employer in writing, with the date and how it happened.
- See a doctor, tell them exactly how it happened, and ask for a workers’ compensation medical certificate.
- Keep any messages from your employer about the injury or about not claiming.
- Do not sign anything about the injury, or accept a private arrangement, before getting advice.
If you are worried about your job, see will my employer sack me if I make a claim?
When it is worth getting advice
If any of the above sounds like your claim, it is worth having someone look at it. That does not commit you to anything, and finding out early that your claim is straightforward is a useful answer too.
Roche Legal acts for injured workers across Queensland. Common law claims are run on a no win no fee basis.
Roche Legal does not take on reviews of rejected WorkCover claims or QIRC appeals on a no win no fee basis. If that is where your claim is, we can point you in the right direction.