Navigating Workers’ Compensation in the Northern Territory: What you need to know

Suffering a workplace injury can be an extremely difficult and stressful experience. Beyond the physical and psychological complications, injured workers often face emotional and mental strain, especially when worrying about whether they’ll be entitled to financial support while they’re unable to work.

At Ward Keller, we receive a lot of enquiries from injured workers seeking clarity on the Northern Territory’s workers’ compensation scheme, the benefits available, and how to respond when their claim is disputed by an insurer. In this article, we explain how the scheme works—and what you can do if things don’t go to plan.

Workers’ Compensation in the Northern Territory

The workers’ compensation scheme in the Northern Territory is governed by the Return to Work Act 1986 (RTWA). This legislation establishes a statutory compensation scheme for workers who suffer a physical or psychological injury, illness, or disease that arises out of or in the course of their employment.

Depending on the circumstances, compensation under the RTWA include:

• Weekly paymentsto cover lost income while a worker is incapacitated;
• Medical, treatment and like costs, including surgery, medication, and physiotherapy. There is also provision for family counselling needed to cope with the injury;
• Reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses related to treatment or rehabilitation;
• The costs associated with rehabilitation training and workplace modifications;
• The costs associated with home or vehicle modifications, and mobility costs (if the worker is able to drive because of the injury);
• Payments for household and attendant care services (such as in-home nursing, domestic cleaning and gardening); and
• Where the worker has sustained a permanent impairment of 5% or more, an additional lump sum is payable.

The first step: making a claim

To access benefits, a worker must notify their employer of the injury as soon as practicable after sustaining an injury.

Then a formal claim needs to be made, which must be lodged with the employer within six months after the injury (usually the date of the incident which caused the injury).  The claim must be made before any resignation. If those are not done, the worker should still lodge the claim, as the worker might be able to show they had reasonable cause for the late lodgement.

A valid claim requires two key documents:

1. A claim form; and
2. If there is a claim for medical and like costs and expenses, or a permanent impairment, a medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner that outlines the nature of the injury and confirms the worker’s incapacity for work.