What is a Notice of Assessment?
Work Cover Statutory Claim:
In a situation where a person suffers an injury at work, they need to meet two basic criteria to be eligible for a WorkCover Statutory Claim:
- The injured person is a Worker
- The injured person has suffered an Injury
Successful WorkCover statutory claims allow injured workers to:
- Receive weekly benefits if they are off work.
- Have medical and rehabilitation expenses covered.
- Retrain or upskill into another occupation more suitable for their current physical/ psychological state, and
- Rehabilitate and return to work when they are medically cleared by their treating doctors.
When an injured person reaches the point of maximum medical improvement or is stable and stationary (ie. when an injured person’s injury has reached the maximum level of improvement) WorkCover will look to finalise an injured worker’s claim. At this point, WorkCover will normally send the injured person to a specialist doctor to complete a permanent impairment assessment.
Notice of Assessment
To finalise the statutory claim, WorkCover will provide the injured worker with a Notice of Assessment which contains the permanent impairment assessment. In the Notice of Assessment, WorkCover will also offer the injured worker a lump sum amount to finalise the claim.
The permanent impairment assessment in the Notice will determine an injured person’s lump sum amount through a whole person impairment percentage.
The Notice of Assessment makes it clear the injured worker can either:
- Accept the Payment - If they do this, they will be unable to pursue a common law claim in the future.
OR
- Reject the Payment - If they do this, it is usually so they can pursue a Common Law Claim.
OR
- Ask for a Second Opinion from another Doctor - In the hope that it will render a higher whole-person impairment percentage. (There is a risk this will be less than the earlier percentage.)
The Notice of Assessment asks the injured worker to make an election to Accept, Reject or ask for a second opinion, sign the Notice, and return it to WorkCover Qld, within 20 business days.