Melanie, a 58-year-old aged care nursing assistant suffered an injury to her right knee in October 2019 while assisting to transfer an obese resident from her chair to her bed. Whilst Melanie’s knee hurt, she was able to complete her shift and went home, assuming it would get better. Being a nursing assistant, she regularly had aches and pains due to standing and walking an entire shift, but she always recovered with rest. She did not report the injury to her employer.
She completed her next 4 shifts, but with increasing pain and a week later she went and saw a physiotherapist who gave her some exercises. She was due to work that afternoon but called in sick and advised she had hurt her knee but not that she had hurt it at work.
The next day her knee was still too sore to work, and she called in sick. During the call, she admitted it was a work injury and was told to complete an incident report which she did the next day.
Over the next few days, she spoke to several people at work advising she had hurt her knee at work, had completed an incident report and required time off. Unfortunately, one of her managers ignored Melanie when she said it was a work injury. No one at work advised her of her workers compensation entitlements or told her to apply for workers compensation, not even the OH&S officer. Melanie was left to self-manage her injury while continuing to struggle to perform her shifts. Around Christmas time, the pain and discomfort were too much for Melanie and she had to go home early one day and attended upon her GP the next morning.
Her GP examined her knee and advised she likely had a tear which was confirmed after imaging. Her GP referred her to a surgeon. Melanie was still hopeful she could manage the injury herself and given the attitude of her employer was reluctant to apply for workers compensation. However, after her surgeon advised she required a partial knee replacement she realised how serious her injury was and discussed making a workers compensation claim with her GP. At the end of January 2020 Melanie handed her certificate of capacity to a manager at work. Unfortunately, the manager and the OH&S officer denied Melanie had reported the injury back in October and conveniently lost her incident report.
Given the attitude of her employer, the workers compensation insurer ultimately adopted the same attitude and declined liability for her injury. As Melanie had a genuine work injury, proceedings were commenced in the Workers Compensation Commission (now the Personal Injury Commission) claiming weekly payments of compensation and reasonable and necessary medical expenses including the cost of the partial knee replacement. The parties were able to resolve the matter with the insurer agreeing to pay past weekly payments, the costs of the surgery and rehabilitation expenses as well as weekly payments while Melanie was recovering.
This case highlights the importance of being aware of your workers compensation rights and standing up for them. It also serves as a reminder for injured workers to keep records and discuss work injuries with their treating medical practitioners to ensure the injuries are recorded.
If you have suffered a work injury and your employer or their insurer have declined liability, we recommend that you seek legal advice. Our team of expert lawyers would be pleased to meet with you to advise you about your options. You can either book an appointment online or call us on 02 4050 0330 for an obligation free consultation.