Compensation Law Senior Associate Yasmine Chalvatzis explores how stigma surrounding workers’ compensation can affect injured workers, from reluctance to report an injury or make a claim to the psychological challenges of navigating the workplace and claims process.
For many workers, the decision to report an injury or make a workers’ compensation claim can bring serious concerns about how they will be perceived by their employer and colleagues.
Questions like “what will my colleagues think?” “Will my employer think I’m exaggerating?” or “Will making a claim affect my job?” can weigh heavily on someone who is already dealing with the physical and emotional effects of an injury.
This can be particularly significant where a worker is dealing with a psychological injury or develops psychological symptoms alongside a physical injury.
Safe Work Australia has recently drawn attention to the stigma around workers’ compensation, warning that negative attitudes towards injured workers can discourage people from reporting injuries, making a claim or fully engaging with their recovery and return-to-work processes.
Understanding stigma can help employers provide better support, and raising awareness can remind injured workers that they do not have to navigate the process alone.
What does workers’ compensation stigma look like?
While stigma can be overt, such as when colleagues, friends or family proclaim hurtful comments like “you’re faking it,” it can also show up more subtly.
Colleagues could question why someone is absent from work or gossip about the legitimacy of an injury, or there could be workplace processes in place that make an injured worker feel like a problem rather than someone requiring support.
Safe Work Australia defines workers’ compensation stigma as negative stereotyping or discrimination against an injured or ill worker seeking compensation. It specifically identifies gossip, bullying, harassment and workplace structures or procedures that disadvantage injured workers.
These behaviours can leave an injured worker feeling isolated or unsupported at a time when they should be focused on their recovery.
For some people, their work is closely tied to their sense of independence, competence and identity. Being unable to perform their usual role can therefore have consequences beyond income and start affecting their confidence and mental health.
When the injury isn’t visible: psychological injuries
For a worker experiencing a psychological injury, the fear of being judged or misunderstood can become another barrier to seeking help.
Psychological injury claims are rising rapidly across Australia. Mental health conditions now account for about 12 per cent of all serious workers’ compensation claims nationally.
Over the past decade, serious psychological injury claims have increased by more than 160 per cent, making them the fastest-growing category of workplace injury. This may be attributed to increased awareness of psychosocial hazards, including workplace bullying, excessive workloads, traumatic exposure and other stressors in the workplace.
Yet despite this, psychological injuries remain deeply misunderstood.
A worker with a broken leg rarely has to convince people they are injured, yet a worker suffering anxiety, depression, PTSD, burnout or another psychological condition often feels they do.
That can make an already difficult recovery more challenging.
Workers with psychological injuries also spend significantly longer away from work than those with physical injuries, often requiring substantially more time to recover and return to meaningful employment.
This makes the return-to-work process an important part of the broader conversation about supporting injured workers.
We previously explored the challenges surrounding return to work here, including what declining return-to-work rates may mean for injured workers and the workers’ compensation system.
When the claims process becomes adversarial
Making a workers’ compensation claim can require an injured worker to provide information about what happened, obtain medical evidence and respond to questions about their injury, treatment and capacity for work.
For someone already worried about being judged, this process can feel confronting. Questions that are necessary to assess a claim can sometimes feel like a challenge to the worker’s account or the legitimacy of their injury.
Where there is a dispute about a claim, the process can become even more stressful.
For an injured worker, having a legal representative who understands the claims process can help them navigate the issues involved and understand what information and evidence may be required to support their claim.
In my experience, there have been instances where a worker, acting without legal representation, delayed making a claim following a workplace injury. Without timely advice, the worker was unaware of the strict time limits and the importance of providing a full and satisfactory explanation for any delay.
As a result, the process of lodging the claim became more complicated, with additional requirements to justify the delay and to gather supporting evidence. This not only prolonged the resolution of the claim but also caused the worker considerable stress and uncertainty, which in turn delayed their recovery.
An injured worker should not have to choose between protecting their health and worrying about how their decision will be perceived at work.
Workers’ compensation exists so that injured workers can access the support they need following a work-related injury or illness, and understanding the claims process can help a worker make informed decisions about their rights and recovery.
How do we reduce stigma and better support injured workers?
Everyone has a role in reducing workers’ compensation stigma, including workers, supervisors and employers.
Safe Work says that under national Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws, “any persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs), such as employers, must eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety, including psychosocial risk such as bullying or harassment arising from stigma, so far as is reasonably practicable.”
Workers also have a duty to minimise WHS risks.
For employers:
- Create a workplace culture where reporting injuries is encouraged.
- Avoid language that implies an injured worker is letting the team down.
- Communicate appropriately with the worker during recovery, and
- Support safe and appropriate return-to-work arrangements.
For colleagues:
- Avoid speculation about someone’s injury or claim.
- Don’t make comments about how much work others are doing in the injured worker’s absence, and
- Maintain appropriate contact and inclusion.
For injured workers:
- Don’t allow concern about what colleagues may think to prevent you from reporting an injury or seeking appropriate support.
- Seek medical assistance, and
- Understand that making a workers’ compensation claim is not something for which a worker should be made to feel ashamed.
Attwood Marshall Lawyers – helping injured workers access the treatment and compensation they deserve
If you have been injured at work, understanding your rights and the workers’ compensation claims process can make a significant difference to the overall outcome.
Our Compensation Law team assists workers across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria with workers’ compensation and workplace injury claims.
Attwood Marshall Lawyers offers a free case assessment to review your claim and explain what you can expect so that you know where you stand from the start. We also operate on a No Win, No Fee basis for all compensation claims, and do not charge an Uplift Fee. Contact our Compensation Law team on 1800 621 071 to book an appointment and discuss your circumstances with our experienced solicitors.
