Psychological (mental) injury claim and reasonable management action
In Queensland, if you are diagnosed with a psychological injury but it was caused by reasonable management action, you can’t claim compensation. This is a notoriously difficult area – both for WorkCover and injured workers alike.
What is management action?
Any action by management can fall into this category. The law gives some specific examples, including internal transfers, redeployments, demotions and so on.
Two types of management actions often leading to confusion are internal investigations and performance reviews. People often perceive these as bullying on the part of management.
The action must be reasonable
You can’t claim compensation if the management action which caused your mental illness was reasonable. To take a basic example, imagine that your employer is unhappy with your performance and decides to terminate your employment. This can put you in a difficult financial position. It can result in feelings of worthlessness. In some cases, it can result in mental injury, such as depression. But if the employer’s action was legitimate, you can’t claim compensation.
The action must be done in a reasonable way
It’s not enough for management to have legitimate grounds to take a particular action. They must do so in a reasonable way. For example, completely one-sided performance reviews or internal investigations which don’t give you a fair chance to respond are not acceptable.
What can you do if WorkCover rejects your claim stating that it arises from reasonable management action? It is possible to overturn WorkCover’s decision. You should seek legal advice because each case turns on its own facts. Those facts must be investigated, internal documents need to be reviewed, witnesses must be interviewed. This process can take months. Sometimes WorkCover might initially reject a claim, but once we present further evidence, the decision can be overturned.
If you are a First Responder, special rules apply to you. For more information read here.
Free book offer: what to expect in your injury claim
Many firms try to rush you to sign up with them without carefully considering your options. We encourage you to first learn about your personal injury claim. You should ask yourself:
- How do you calculate your compensation amount?
- How should you choose your lawyer? Do you just choose by firm name regardless of who is really in charge of your matter? Has your lawyer ever argued a case in court?
- What is a no win – no fee agreement? How much will it cost?
Our book is available to you free of charge. You don’t have to be a client to receive this book. Head to the order page and we will be happy to send you a copy straight away.
25% Cap on legal costs
In all of our personal injury compensation matters, we act on a No Win – No Fee basis. What that means is, there’s no upfront cost to you.
In Queensland, most compensation firms will charge you 50% of your compensation amount – the maximum allowed at law. This is very expensive. Our fee is different. We will cap our fee at 25% . Remember also, these are the maximum fees we will charge. If our fee in your claim is less, then we charge the lesser amount.
Before you engage us, we will provide you a written Disclosure Notice and a Client Service Agreement. These documents set out in detail the service we provide, as well as our fees and outlays. Before you sign anything, you can take these documents home with you, and study them with your family. You can take as long as you need, there is never any pressure from us. If anything in these documents doesn’t make sense to you, we can discuss it with you and you are free to ask another lawyer to give you advice. And remember, no win – no fee agreements come with a 5 day cooling off period for extra peace of mind.
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