Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003

The Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 is about providing protection against the costs of workplace injuries through insurance, compensation, and rehabilitation, and balancing the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers with the continuing viability of the WorkCover fund and self-insurer standards.

The Act establishes a workers' compensation scheme for Queensland, providing benefits relating to workplace injuries or fatalities, and insurance for employers.

The main provisions of the scheme provide the following for injuries sustained by workers in their employment, and in some instances for people other than workers:

• compensation;
• regulation of access to damages;
• employers' liability for compensation;
• employers' obligation to be covered against liability for compensation and damages either under a WorkCover insurance policy or under a licence as a self-insurer;
• management of compensation claims by insurers;
• injury management, emphasising rehabilitation of workers particularly for return to work;
• procedures for assessment of injuries by appropriately qualified persons or by independent medical assessment tribunals;
• rights of review of, and appeal against, decisions made under this Act.

The Act also establishes WorkCover Queensland to provide workers' compensation insurance and the Workers' Compensation Regulatory Authority, Q-COMP, to regulate the workers' compensation scheme.

More on the role of WorkCover Queensland and Q-COMP under the Act.