If you have been injured in the workplace you will likely have a number of options available to you to receive support as you are recovering from your injury including weekly payments, support for medical expenses and other related costs. If your injury is more severe, however, you may also be eligible to receive a one off lump sum payment for your injury.
There are two types of workplace injury lump sum payments: Lump sum compensation for permanent impairment and Work Injury Damages. While at first glance these two payouts might seem similar there are distinct differences between the two which are important to note.
What is a Permanent Impairment Payout?
Lump sum compensation for permanent impairment or a Permanent Impairment Payout is a once off payment made in addition to weekly payments, medical and related expenses, available to people who have been severely injured in the workplace.
In order to be eligible for a Permanent Impairment Payout you must:
- Have a permanent impairment as a result of a work related injury or illness,
- Your permanent impairment for a physical injury is assessed as being 11% or more of your whole body, OR
- You have a 15% or more primary psychological injury (secondary psychological injuries are not eligible for permanent impairment compensation)
In order to claim a Permanent Impairment Payout you must undergo a medical assessment from a professional trained and certified in assessing permanent impairment for insurance purposes.
What are Work Injury Damages?
Work Injury Damages claims are a one off payment related to the claimant’s loos of earning capacity. In order to be eligible for Work Injury Damages:
- The injury must have been as a result of a work related injury or illness,
- The injury must be the result of employer negligence (in other words you must be able to prove that it was caused by your employer breaching their duty of care),
- You must have at least a 15% or more permanent impairment,
- You must have received all statutory lump sum entitlements for permanent impairment to which you are entitled.
The two main differences documented above are that people who are entitled to Work Injury Damages need to be able to prove that the injury was caused by employer negligence and that they have a permanent impairment of 15% or more, while Permanent Impairment Payouts do not require negligence from the employer and require 11% or more physical injury or 15% or more primary psychological injury.
Differences in calculating payout
Another key difference is the way that the payout is calculated. Permanent Impairment Payouts are for a fixed amount calculated based on the percentage rating that you are given. This means that it doesn’t take some things into account like impact on your earnings.
Work Injury Damages claims on the other hand are a Common Law claim for loss of earning capacity.. A good example of how this changes the payout is a fitness instructor compared to an office worker. If they had both lost a leg and had the same percentage impairment then the fitness instructor would likely receive a similar payout to the office worker.
Under Work Injury Damages however the claims process would take into account the impact of the lost limb on earnings capacity, and would likely mean a larger payout for the fitness instructor due to the negative impact of the injury on their ability to do their job.