Canberra Comcare Lawyers

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At Elringtons, we have the expertise and experience to assist people with Comcare claims, including:

1. Initial claims
2. Reconsiderations when Comcare denies a claim or ceases entitlements
3. Merit reviews at the Administrative Review Tribunal
4. Court appeals

If you are an ACT Government employee, please see our dedicated ACT Government workers compensation page.

Injuries and Diseases

You can claim for a frank injury or if your work has made a pre-existing injury or disease worse. The basic qualification is that your work must cause your injury or disease. However, there are slightly different causation requirements for an injury and a disease:

1. An injury must arise out of your work
2. A disease must have been contributed to, to a significant degree, by your work

The causation test for a disease is harder. A disease will generally be those medical conditions that are not a frank injury.  For example, a frank injury will be a broken leg following a fall while a disease will be aggravation of a pre-existing back condition.

The claims process

1. A worker must notify their employer that they are injured as soon as possible after becoming injured.
2. A worker must complete a Comcare claim form with a medical certificate. The form is given to your employer, who must then give it to Comcare.
3. Comcare will consider your claim. They may require you to provide specific information and send you to be examined by an independent medical expert.
4. Comcare must accept or reject your claim. For injury claims, Comcare must make the determination within 20 days of the application. For disease claims, within 60 days.
5. If Comcare reject your claim, you have 30 days from the day you were notified of the decision to submit a reconsideration request. You may ask Comcare to extend this, but it is up to Comcare whether or not to extend the time.
6. Comcare must affirm or set aside the initial decision. There is no mandated timeframe, but it is their policy to aim for 30 days.
7. If you disagree with the reconsideration decision, you have 60 days to submit a merits review request at the Administrative Review Tribunal.

Entitlements

Under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRC Act), injured workers may be entitled to:

1. Weekly payments
2. Medical treatment expenses
3.  Lump sum permanent impairment and pain and suffering payments
4.  Payments for household and care services
5.  Death benefits

Psychological Injuries

There are special laws in the Comcare system limiting the circumstances when an employer is liable to pay you compensation for a psychological injury.  If you think you may have received a psychological injury from work, it’s very important you understand the law prior to making a claim.

People who sustain a frank psychological injury and those who already have a diagnosis of a mental illness may be eligible for compensation where work has made their illness worse.  These types of claims can be quite complex.

First responders (such as police, paramedics or firefighters) also have special rules for trauma-related injuries. These are intended to prevent the person from having to list their trauma experiences, which in our experience, can be a very confronting experience.

For more information see our article Comcare and Psychological Injuries.

Tips for workers

We see many workers who have made Comcare claims. Some have done well while others, inadvertently, have dug themselves into a hole. The best strategy is to not have to talk to us at all, so here are a few tips from our experience to those contemplating a claim:

1. Comcare is a no fault system, so you don’t need to show that your workplace did something wrong. They may have, but trying to show that work did something wrong may only provide Comcare with more opportunities to deny your claim.
2. Show that your work caused your injury. If something other than work has impacted on your injury, you must be honest. However, make sure you do not overstate the impact of a non-work event.
3. Be careful what you put in writing, especially with psychological injury claims. See our article Comcare and Psychological Injuries for more information.
4. Make a very good record as soon as possible about what happened when you were injured.

For more tips, see our article on making submissions to Comcare or EML.

Specialist SRC Act Lawyers

Our team is led by Tom Maling, who specialises in SRC Act claims. Tom has acted for many clients in seeking reconsiderations and reviews at Tribunals across the country. We have special relationships with the ACT Branch of the ANMF and Australian Federal Police Association, assisting their members with their claims. Our team comprises Matthew Bridger, Gabby Bridger, and Isabelle Johnston. Our experience covers physical and psychological injuries, liability disputes, treatment claims, normal weekly earnings disputes, permanent impairment claims, and overpayments.  

To contact us or to make an appointment in either our Canberra or Queanbeyan office: 

p: +61 2 6206 1300 | e: Info@elringtons.com.au 

Additional Resources:

• Elringtons Personal Injury
• Health and Medical Law