Free Workers Compensation Case Assessment

Real published workers compensation settlements

Actual settlements published in Australian plaintiff law firm case-results listings (firm names redacted; case facts and amounts as published). Settlement size is driven by the heads of damage involved - economic loss, permanent impairment, common-law damages where available - rather than scheme averages.

• Worker, eye injury / permanent blindness from grinder blade: $800,000 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Bullying-related psychiatric injury (death by suicide; dependency claim): $653,480 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Tyre inspection worker, ear injuries / hearing loss / PTSD from tyre explosion: $630,000 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Correctional officer, bullying and harassment: $490,000 plus $51,000 lump sum - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Mill hand, knee injury requiring total knee replacement: $475,000 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Risk and compliance manager, psychiatric injury from bullying: $355,000 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Mobile flash-butt operator, shoulder injury and psychiatric overlay: $365,000 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Aged care worker, PTSD/depression after traumatic incident: $320,000 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Cleaner, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome: $225,000 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Carpenter, hand laceration with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS): $173,000 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Shire worker, lower back injury from heavy lifting: $1,050,000 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Chemical plant worker, chemical burns (2017): $1,006,962 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.
• Partner of deceased worker, dependency claim: $1,500,000 - published Australian plaintiff settlement.

What the regulators publish on workers compensation outcomes

• Safe Work Australia 2023-24: 146,700 serious workers' compensation claims (one or more weeks of working time lost) - equivalent to over 400 serious claims a day. Safe Work Australia Key WHS Statistics 2024.
• Median compensation 2021-22 (most recent published): men $16,476, women $14,604; median time lost: men 7.6 weeks, women 8.8 weeks. Mental health claims have a much higher median: $67,400 vs $16,300 for all injuries. Top mechanisms 2021-22: body stressing 32.6%, falls/trips/slips 22%, hit by moving object 15.1%, mental stress 9.2%. Safe Work Australia workers' compensation dataset.
• NSW scheme 2023-24 (icare-administered, SIRA-supervised): total claim costs $5.3 billion (up 20.5% from $4.4 billion in 2022-23); 125,474 workers received scheme-funded payments; 17,600 mental health claims (12% of serious claims but 38% of total scheme cost); average cost per psychological injury claim $288,542 (up from $146,000 in 2019-20). Return-to-work rate at 1 year: 40% for psychological vs 88% within 13 weeks for physical. NSW SIRA / icare NSW.
• NSW permanent impairment lump sums (range): from $22,480 to $757,760 depending on whole-person impairment percentage. NSW paid approximately $1.27 billion in common-law and permanent-impairment lump sums to injured workers in the 12 months to September 2025.
• Workplace fatalities (national 2024): 188 worker fatalities; falls-from-height fatalities increased 71% from 2022 (17 to 24); construction accounted for 23% of workplace fatalities. Safe Work Australia 2024 statistics.