The Queensland Parliament passed the Amending Bill on 17 September 2015.  The Amending Act will make some significant changes to the Workers Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2003 (WCRA).

Entitlement to Damages

Section 237 of the WCRA has been amended to remove the Degree of Permanent Impairment (DPI) assessment threshold of greater than 5% for injuries sustained on or after 31 January 2015.  Workers will therefore no longer need to have a DPI impairment greater than 5% before being entitled to bring a claim for damages at common law.

Lump sum payments by WorkCover

A new Section 193A provides for additional lump sum payments being available to a worker who has suffered an injury on or after 15 October 2013 but before 31 January 2015.  This is the period that the threshold requiring an injured worker to have a DPI impairment greater than 5% before being entitled to bring a claim for damages at common law was in place.  There are a number of preconditions for Section 193A to apply the most important being that the worker has not already accepted or rejected an offer of lump sum compensation from WorkCover.