When our client who was in his late 50’s had injured himself during the course of his employment in the construction industry, he had a feeling of despair and uncertainty for the future. At his age, he knew that the injuries would prevent him from returning to work in the industry that he had been involved in for over 30 years. At his age, the thought of re-training in a different field was daunting.
An injured worker in New South Wales is entitled to the statutory benefits that most state jurisdictions allow. This includes payments of weekly compensation to cover wage loss. It also includes payments for medical expenses and in some instances, the injured worker would be entitled to a lump sum payment. In assisting our client, we ensured that he received his initial entitlements for weekly compensation and medical expenses.
To also ensure our client received maximum compensation, we investigated a claim on his behalf for lump sum benefits in relation to his impairment when he was stable. Of course, the task was not an easy one as surgery slowed down proceedings and after our client had become stable for an assessment on his impairment, the workers compensation insurer had not accepted the whole person impairment rating that we had obtained from a qualified assessor. As a consequence, we started proceedings in the Workers Compensation Commission, as it was previously known. (The Workers Compensation Commission has now evolved and is known as the Personal Injury Commission, which has a range of control in other personal injury fields.)
The impairment threshold required in order to receive a payment for lump sum benefits is 11% Whole Person Impairment (WPI). It is to be noted that in New South Wales workers compensation, an injured worker has a right for a further claim (in addition to a lump sum payment), if they satisfy a rating of 15%WPI. If it is determined or agreed that the injured worker has an impairment of 15%WPI or higher, the injured worker will not only be entitled to a lump sum payment but also a right to pursue a Work Injury Damages claim (Common Law negligent claim).
In the Workers Compensation Commission proceedings for this client, we stood firmly to ensure that the matter did not resolve at an impairment rating below the threshold of 15%WPI. In that way we not only secured an entitlement of lump sum benefits for him, but also secured a right for him to pursue a Common Law claim.
Although the matter had occurred some 6 years ago, being well past the limitation period of 3 years, we were still able to finalise a Work Injury Damages/Common Law Negligent claim on his behalf as well.
Once this worker had finalised all his claims/entitlements, we were able to achieve overall compensation for him to an amount over $600,000.00. This included payments of weekly compensation, payments for medical expenses, a lump sum claim for his impairment and damages in the Common Law proceedings. At each step of the process, our client received maximum compensation. He was able to do that through the legal skills and perseverance from the legal team here at Alliance Compensation Lawyers. Our client was well aware that he had received maximum compensation at each point of his claim, something he would not have achieved had it not been for our very caring and capable team here at Alliance Compensation & Litigation Lawyers. Get your free claim assessment today.
