If you are injured at work you should seek legal advice as soon as possible. It won't cost to make a call and speak to Penny. It's better that you know what your rights are as soon as possible so that you can make good decisions about your injury right away.

Most employees in Victoria, some self employed people and subcontractors and the dependants of workers who die because of a work injury, illness or disease. A work injury can include an aggravation, exacerbation, acceleration or deterioration of an injury or disease that is not a work injury.

If you are unable to work because of your work injury, you need to give a WorkSafe medical certificate and Worker's Injury Claim Form to your employer or in some cases, your employer's WorkSafe Agent. If you need to get medical expenses paid you need to send a claim form and evidence of the medical expense to your employer or in some cases, the employer's WorkSafe Agent. Penny can help you fill out the claim form and talk to you about what to do.

If you are a dependant of a worker who has died because of a work injury, illness or disease, you must fill out a dependency claim form to obtain compensation. Penny can provide you with one of these forms and help you fill it out. A dependency claim must be made within 2 years of the date of a workers death.

A medical practitioner must provide the first medical certificate. Your first medical certificate should be for a period of no more than 14 days. After that, medical certificates must be issued by a medical practitioner, physiotherapist, chiropractor or osteopath and can be for no more than 28 days.

If you are making a claim for weekly payments of compensation and/or medical expenses, the WorkSafe Agent or self insurer has 28 days to make a decision about your claim.

If you are entitled to weekly payments, your weekly payments are calculated according to your Pre Injury Average Weekly Earnings (PIAWE). Usually the payments you have received in the last 12 months before your injury are used to calculate your PIAWE. For the first 12 months, payments you have received other than your ordinary time earnings, such as, shift work allowance, overtime and any bonus you received are taken into account. After 12 months, only your ordinary time earnings are taken into account in calculating your pre injury average weekly earnings.

For claims made after 5 April 2010, the maximum weekly payment you can receive is 2 x state average weekly earnings. This is currently:$2110

If your claim is rejected you can have this reviewed by requesting conciliation. Penny can send you a Request for Conciliation form or you can obtain one from the Accident Compensation Conciliation Service. For further information about requesting Conciliation you can talk to Penny or have a look at the Accident Compensation Conciliation Service website.

If your injury is permanent you may be entitled to a lump sum for your injury. A WorkCover lump sum is called an Impairment Benefit. If you have a serious injury caused by your employer's negligence, or the fault of another, you may be entitled to seek common law damages. As time limits apply to common law claims, it is important, if you have a permanent injury, to seek legal advice as soon as possible.

If your psychological injury is work related and you are unable to work and/or you need medical treatment, you may be entitled to claim weekly payments of compensation and/or medical expenses. You are not entitled to compensation for a psychological injury if your injury was predominately caused by reasonable management action, taken in a reasonable way. If you have a psychological injury and you think it may be work related you should seek legal advice so you know what you are entitled to as soon as possible.Talk to Penny about whether it is likely that you will be able to claim compensation in the circumstances of your particular case.