Is it a good idea to allow the employer to come with you to see your doctor after a work injury? Definitely not.

Why employer should NOT be at the examination?

When you go see a doctor after a work injury, there should be no one else with you at the consultation.

First of all, your relationship with your doctor is private and confidential.  Just because your injury happened at work doesn’t give the employer any right to sit in during your consultation with the doctor.

In addition, if the employer is sitting in with you during the consultation, you may not feel comfortable disclosing to your doctor every complaint or symptom which you may have, which could prevent the doctor from arriving at a correct medical diagnosis.

Another issue is undue pressure.  The employer could use this opportunity to pressure you into downplaying your symptoms. Alternatively, they may pressure you into not telling the doctor exactly how the incident happened, especially if this may expose the employer to a workplace health and safety investigation. The employer might also try and pressure the doctor to say that the best thing for you is just to go back to work and not bother with a workcover claim.

Should I go to my doctor or the company’s doctor?

Sometimes employers want you to use their company doctor after a work incident. Generally this is not a good idea. The issue with company doctors is that they are not independent.  They will try and pressure you to get back to work, and they might downplay the severity of your injuries.

It’s always best to use your regular doctor or another GP or hospital of your choosing. Of course, this may not always be possible, but if you can, go with your own doctor.

The employer just wants to be helpful – what can they do?

The employer can certainly help in a variety of different ways. They can take you to the doctor and they can take you home after your appointment.  They can offer to lodge a workcover claim on your behalf.  Just make sure they don’t cross boundaries: when you consult your doctor, the employer shouldn’t be there.

Can WorkCover’s return to work representative come to doctors’ appointments with me?

No. When you are on WorkCover, at some stage WorkCover will appoint a return to work representative. This is someone who works for a WorkCover service provider and their job is to try and assist in your return to work.

These people will ask you to authorise them to access your medical records. If they have been appointed by WorkCover, then this may be okay. However, they should not be coming to medical appointments with you. If they want to know your medical condition and ability to return to work, they can get WorkCover to obtain a report from your doctor that answers their questions.

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.