FAQ

Injured Workers Queensland is an independent advocacy and evidence-gathering platform focused on documenting recurring problems in how WorkCover Queensland and Queensland employers handle psychological injury claims, and on building a public case for legislative and administrative reform.

This site is run by a Queensland-admitted solicitor, New Zealand barrister and solicitor, and Philippine lawyer who placed 17th in the 1997 Philippine Bar Examinations (out of 3,921 examinees), and by a legal academic with more than 12 years of institutional standing, a PhD, and an LLM with Honours from the University of Auckland.

The site was created following direct personal experience of WorkCover Queensland’s handling of psychological injury claims, and out of concern for workers facing the same recurring problems without the legal tools to respond.

No. This site is entirely independent. It has no affiliation with WorkCover Queensland, WorkSafe Queensland, or any Queensland Government agency.

No. It is not connected to any employer, university, insurer, or law firm, and does not act in a legal representative capacity for any party.

No. The content on this site is provided strictly as general information and does not constitute legal advice. It is not comprehensive, is not tailored to your specific circumstances, and should not be relied on as a substitute for obtaining independent legal or other professional advice.

Your use of this site does not create a solicitor-client, fiduciary, or other professional relationship. If you have an active claim, are subject to a deadline, or are considering legal action, you must obtain independent legal advice promptly.

This site does not:

• Investigate or assess individual claims
• Determine or advise you of your specific legal rights
• Contact WorkCover Queensland or your employer on your behalf
• Lodge or file any claim, complaint, or application with a court, tribunal, or regulator for you
• Provide legal representation or case management in any forum

This site provides general information only, records and shares worker-reported experiences, and advocates for systemic and policy reform to improve workplace health, safety, and compensation systems. It is not a substitute for independent legal or professional advice about your situation.

Because too many Queensland workers with psychological injuries feel dismissed, disbelieved, and abandoned — both by their employers and by WorkCover Queensland. This site exists to make those experiences visible and harder to ignore.

This site is for Queensland workers who have suffered psychological injury in the workplace as a result of their employer’s conduct, and who have then found that the compensation system failed to protect them. It is particularly directed at workers whose psychological injury claims have been rejected, delayed, mishandled, or left unresolved by WorkCover Queensland or related bodies.

Workers report high rejection rates and significant barriers in psychological injury claims compared with physical injury claims. Many such claims arise from workplace bullying, disciplinary processes, performance management, exclusion, or other conduct experienced as deeply harmful — but later characterised by employers as ordinary management.

Yes. If you work in Queensland and have been affected by WorkCover Queensland or employer conduct relating to a psychological injury claim, this site is for you regardless of your visa status or country of origin.

Yes. If the injured worker is unwell or unable to submit directly, a family member or trusted supporter may submit on their behalf. Please indicate clearly that you are submitting on someone else’s behalf and describe your relationship to them.

Yes. You decide how much identifying information to provide. Anonymous submissions are accepted and valued equally.

No. Your submission is treated as confidential and will not be disclosed to your employer through this site.

Not automatically. Submissions are collected to build an evidence base for advocacy and reform. Your story will not be sent to WorkCover Queensland unless you separately and explicitly choose that.

If we decide to publish or include your story in any public material, we will first de-identify it. That means we will remove names, job titles, specific locations, dates, and any other details that could reasonably point to you, your employer, or individual managers.

We may also change or generalise some facts — for example, describing a workplace as “a Queensland university” rather than naming it — where that is needed to prevent identification. Our aim is that neither you nor your employer can be identified by a reasonable reader. If we are not confident that a story can be safely anonymised, we will not publish it.

Yes. You can request withdrawal or deletion at any time by contacting us directly.

This is a legitimate concern. Consider submitting anonymously, using a personal device and a private email address not connected to your workplace, and avoiding submission from a work network. If your matter is still active, obtaining legal advice before submitting is advisable. This site will not disclose your identity without your consent.

No. You do not need legal representation to submit here.

Keep records of: all claim decisions and reasons given; medical certificates and reports from treating practitioners; all correspondence with WorkCover Queensland including letters, emails, and written notes of phone calls with dates, times, and officer names; any communications from your employer during or after the claim; and diary notes recording significant events as they happen.

Good documentation makes your account more credible and more useful for advocacy.

Submissions are reviewed for internal consistency. Supporting documents may be requested where allegations are serious. Publication decisions are made carefully. Submissions are used in de-identified form unless explicit consent to identification is given.

No — not as a matter of course. This site’s purpose is to document patterns of systemic failure, not to target particular people. Submissions naming specific individuals will be treated with particular care and may be edited, anonymised, or not published at all.

Yes. If material published on this site is shown to be inaccurate, it will be corrected or removed promptly. The credibility of this campaign depends on accuracy.

Submissions are reviewed, de-identified where appropriate, grouped with similar experiences, and used to support advocacy work — including parliamentary submissions, systemic complaints, media engagement, and reform proposals.

Yes. When you submit, you will be asked to confirm that the information provided is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, and that you understand it may be de-identified, edited for clarity, and used for advocacy purposes. That confirmation helps protect both you and the integrity of the campaign.

A recurring issue workers report is that WorkCover Queensland rejects new claims for worsening of a psychological condition on the basis that it is merely a continuation of an earlier injury, rather than treating it as a new and potentially compensable event.

This matters because it can have the practical effect of making later employer conduct harder to examine as a separate injury issue, and leaving workers without remedy. This is one of the central issues this campaign seeks to document and address.

“Reasonable management action” is a statutory concept in Queensland workers’ compensation law. Under section 32(5) of the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld), a psychological injury is not an “injury” for compensation purposes if it arises wholly or predominantly from reasonable management action taken in a reasonable way.

WorkCover frequently relies on this exclusion to reject psychological injury claims. Workers and their advocates report that it is often applied without rigorous scrutiny of whether the conduct was genuinely reasonable, and whether it was carried out in a reasonable manner. It is also the stage at which a worker’s account of harmful employer conduct is most likely to be displaced by the employer’s description of the same behaviour as ordinary management.

Yes, it can — but this is one of the most contested issues in Queensland workers’ compensation law. A worsening, aggravation, or exacerbation of a psychological condition may amount to a new injury, depending on the facts, the medical evidence, and the proper application of the law.

Workers should not assume that WorkCover’s view is legally correct. Independent legal advice should always be sought.

That is exactly the kind of experience this site seeks to document. Many workers report being harmed by employer conduct and then failed again by WorkCover when they sought help. Both parts of that experience are relevant here.

An IME is a doctor engaged by WorkCover Queensland to provide a medical opinion on your claim. IME reports may be given substantial weight in claim assessment, including over contrary treating evidence. Workers frequently report that IME reports downplay psychological symptoms.

If WorkCover arranges an IME for your claim, seek legal advice about how to respond and whether you may provide additional medical evidence.

WorkCover may seek access to prior medical records as part of its assessment. A prior mental health history does not automatically disqualify your claim, but it may be raised to argue your condition pre-dates your employment. Discuss any concerns about record access with an independent legal adviser before providing authorisation.

A rejection is not necessarily the end. Depending on your circumstances, you may have rights to seek a review and to appeal, as well as formal complaint pathways. Time limits apply — seek independent legal advice immediately.

WorkSafe Queensland and the Workers’ Compensation Regulator have oversight functions. The Regulator can conduct investigations and reviews, but does not act as a worker’s representative and has limited practical capacity to assist individual workers. Parliamentary committees can also examine WorkCover’s operations.

These mechanisms have real limitations — which is why this campaign exists: to build a public, documented evidence base that supplements them.

The Queensland Ombudsman investigates complaints about the administrative actions and decisions of Queensland public agencies. Whether it can deal with a WorkCover-related complaint depends on the entity involved and the nature of the complaint. This is a pathway you should explore with a community legal centre or independent legal adviser.

No — not directly. This site provides general information, referrals, and advocacy only. For help with an active claim or appeal, you need independent legal advice.

Yes — as early as possible. This site cannot advise you on the specific facts of your situation. Community legal centres and specialist workers’ compensation lawyers can help, including at no cost in some cases.

Community legal centres across Queensland offer free legal information and, in some cases, representation. Unions can assist members with workers’ compensation matters. Some specialist workers’ compensation lawyers operate on a no-win no-fee basis. See the Support and Services page on this site for current referrals.

Yes. The Support and Services page provides referral information for community legal centres, worker support organisations, mental health services, unions, complaint bodies, and official review agencies.