What Your Employer Can and Can’t Do While You Have an Active Workers Comp Claim

If you’re putting off a workers compensation claim, there’s a good chance it isn’t because you doubt your injury. It’s because you’re worried about what your employer might do next. Will you be let go? Pushed into a role you physically can’t manage? Quietly frozen out until you leave on your own? These fears are common, and they stop a lot of genuinely injured workers from claiming what they’re entitled to.

So let’s deal with the question most people are really asking first, then walk through the wider picture of what your employer is and isn’t allowed to do while your workers compensation claim is active.

Not because you made a claim. In New South Wales, it is unlawful for an employer to dismiss a worker simply because they are injured or have lodged a workers compensation claim. Under workplace and workers compensation law, your claim is a protected action, and termination connected to it can amount to unlawful dismissal or unlawful discrimination.

There are limited situations where employment can still end — for example, a genuine redundancy unrelated to your injury, or where you remain unfit for your role over an extended period and no suitable alternative duties exist. Even then, strict processes apply, and your employer cannot use “restructuring” as a cover story for getting rid of someone who has claimed. If the timing of a dismissal lines up suspiciously with your claim, that’s worth having a lawyer look at — and in some cases it may also open the door to a common law work injury damages claim.

Return-to-work and suitable duties are a normal part of the workers compensation system, and being offered modified work is not, in itself, a bad sign — it’s often part of recovery. What your employer cannot do is direct you to perform tasks that conflict with your treating doctor’s certificate of capacity. Your medical certificate sets the boundaries. If the duties on offer go beyond what your doctor has approved, you are not required to simply push through them.

If you feel you’re being set up to fail — given “suitable” duties that clearly aren’t suitable — document what you’re being asked to do and raise it with your doctor and your case manager.

Reasonable contact about your recovery, your return-to-work plan and your claim is expected. Repeated, pressuring or intimidating contact is not. There’s a difference between a case manager checking in on your progress and an employer calling repeatedly to imply you should be back already, or to discourage you from continuing your claim. Keep a simple record of contact that feels inappropriate — dates, times and what was said.

Can my employer make me see their preferred doctor?

You have the right to choose your own treating doctor. An insurer can arrange an independent medical examination as part of assessing your claim, and you generally need to attend that. But “attend an independent examination” is not the same as “switch to the doctor your employer prefers.” Your nominated treating doctor manages your care and issues your certificates of capacity. You don’t have to hand that role to a practitioner chosen to suit your employer’s interests.

One of the biggest reasons injured workers hesitate is the assumption that getting legal help will cost them money they don’t have right now. In New South Wales, workers compensation legal costs are handled differently to other types of claims. Funding assistance may be available through the Independent Review Office (IRO), and most workers compensation matters are supported through regulated legal funding rather than fees you pay out of pocket.

That means you can get advice on your rights without committing to a private bill upfront. Our team will explain any legal costs clearly before proceeding and help you understand the funding arrangements that apply to your situation, so there are no surprises. If you want a sense of what a claim can involve, our workers compensation payout guide walks through it in plain language.

The bottom line

An active claim doesn’t hand your employer a free pass to manage you out, override your doctor or pressure you back to work before you’re ready. You have clear protections, and knowing them is the difference between staying stuck in worry and moving forward with your recovery and your claim.

If something your employer has done doesn’t feel right — a sudden role change, a dismissal that lines up with your claim, pressure to do duties beyond your certificate — it’s worth a free, no-pressure conversation. We’ll tell you plainly where you stand.