RMB Lawyers successfully secured $52,000 for an injured apprentice as part of a total and permanent disablement claim. Compensation Lawyer AIMEE LANYON outlines the case:
The central concept of a total and permanent disablement claim is proving the injured or terminally ill individual will never be able to return to the work for which they are suited by way of training, education and experience.
The fact that a client may be able to return to some alternative employment in some capacity is not an issue. The focus is on the pre-injury or pre-illness employment and education history and proving that the client’s specific injuries limit them from ever returning to that work.
The claim in question was made via the injured individual’s superannuation fund and was for the specific value of total and permanent disablement compensation (TPDC) which was attached to our client’s specific superannuation membership.
If a client has TPDC attached to their superfund membership, the value of the compensation will be set by the superfund. There is no scope for negotiating the value to be paid. It is an all or nothing claim.
Any injured individual does not automatically have access to TPDC. The superfund will only pay the compensation by releasing the specific value into the client’s super account if a claim is successful.
Our client was an apprentice when he sustained significant back injuries during his employment which left him with ongoing restrictions and disabilities, including the inability to ever perform the heavy manual lifting and physically demanding duties associated with his trade.
As an apprentice, our client had minimal pre-injury employment history, skills and qualifications. Prior to his injury, he had his whole working life ahead of him to be successful in his chosen trade.
We submitted and successfully proved to our client’s superfund that this inability to ever re-engage with his trade meant our client was totally and permanently disabled from returning to that field of employment.
Our in-depth analysis of the task-specific work associated with our client’s trade coupled with medical records and independent expert opinions ensured the claim was approved and payment was received by our client within weeks of lodging the application.
By going one step further for our client and submitting a total and permanent disablement claim with evidence over and above the documents requested by the superfund, we were able to mitigate the risk of the superfund denying the claim or delaying payment while they undertook their own investigations.