Victoria Workers Compensation: WorkSafe Victoria Claims and Payments

Victoria's workers compensation scheme is run by WorkSafe Victoria under the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013, with weekly payments structured around a 130-week step-down and common-law damages generally reserved for a 'serious injury.'

Scheme name and who runs what

Victoria's scheme is administered by the Victorian WorkCover Authority, which trades as WorkSafe Victoria and is continued in existence under the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013. Unlike NSW, Queensland or WA, Victoria doesn't split workplace-safety regulation and workers-comp insurance between two bodies; WorkSafe Victoria does both. WorkSafe doesn't manage most claims directly; it appoints authorised agents who handle day-to-day claims administration, alongside a smaller population of self-insurers who manage their own claims. Most searchers use terms like "worksafe victoria claim" or "workcover victoria," the Authority's statutory name rarely appears outside formal legal text.

See our Australia workers compensation guide for how Victoria fits alongside the other state schemes and Comcare.

Governing Act

The Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic), Act No. 67/2013, is still the current governing Act, there is no separate "2024 Act"; the widely discussed 2024 and 2025 reforms are amendments to the 2013 Act rather than a new consolidation. Two recent amending Acts stand out. The Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (WorkCover Scheme Modernisation) Act 2024 took effect 31 March 2024 and changed the test for continuing weekly payments past 130 weeks and narrowed what can go to arbitration. The Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Act 2025 touched the claim time-limit provisions for death and dependency claims and the non-economic-loss formula; its royal assent is reported as 5 August 2025, though recordinglaw did not independently confirm that exact date against a primary source.

Who is covered

A "worker" under the Act is defined broadly: anyone who performs work, or agrees to perform work, for an employer at the employer's direction or request, under an express, implied, oral or written contract of employment or otherwise, or who is deemed to be a worker under the Act. A schedule to the Act sets out deemed-worker and deemed-employer categories, covering certain contractors, sporting contestants and family members among others; recordinglaw did not extract the full schedule for this page, so an unusual work arrangement should be confirmed directly with WorkSafe Victoria rather than assumed from a general description. No Victoria-specific gig-economy or platform-worker provision was found in the Act itself.

After an injury: notice and claim deadlines

A worker must notify their employer within 30 days of becoming aware of the injury, in writing. Failing to give timely notice generally bars recovery, but WorkSafe or a self-insurer may waive or extend the 30-day limit where it wasn't reasonably practicable to give notice, the employer wasn't unfairly prejudiced, or strict enforcement would cause serious injustice, for example where the delay was caused by ignorance, mistake, undue influence, or absence from Victoria.

There is no single fixed deadline that applies to every claim type. A weekly-payments claim must be made "as soon as practicable" after the incapacity becomes known, with no fixed day count attached. Death and dependency claims must be made within 2 years of the worker's death. Medical or like-expenses-only claims must be made within 6 months of the relevant service. WorkSafe or a self-insurer can waive or extend any of these limits for a "special excuse." These deadlines sit outside Victoria's general civil statute of limitations rules, which don't govern a workers compensation claim in the same way.

Once a claim is lodged, WorkSafe's own claims manual describes a liability decision timeframe of generally 28 days from the agent's receipt of a valid claim, or 39 days if the worker notified WorkSafe or the agent directly rather than the employer, with the claim deemed accepted if the agent misses the deadline. recordinglaw confirmed these day counts from WorkSafe's own procedural pages but did not separately cross-check them against the raw text of the relevant Act section.

Weekly payments

Weekly payments are based on Pre-Injury Average Weekly Earnings, averaged over the 52 weeks before the injury (pro-rated for a shorter work history). The first entitlement period covers up to 13 weeks, paid at 95 percent of pre-injury average weekly earnings less any current earnings, capped at twice the state average weekly earnings. The second entitlement period covers the following 117 weeks, paid at 80 percent of pre-injury average weekly earnings under the same cap, together making up the commonly cited "130 weeks."

After the second entitlement period, past 130 weeks, payments generally cease unless WorkSafe or the self-insurer determines that the worker has no current work capacity likely to continue indefinitely, and a whole person impairment of more than 20 percent resulting from the compensable injury or injuries. Where both conditions are met, payments continue at 80 percent of pre-injury average weekly earnings, with a capacity review at least every 2 years. This continuation test applies to claims reaching 130 weeks on or after 31 March 2024, when the WorkCover Scheme Modernisation Act took effect; an earlier test may govern older claims. The Act's own text uses "more than 20 per cent," not "21 percent"; WorkSafe's plain-language pages round this to "21 percent or more" since impairment ratings are practically assessed in whole numbers, both describe the same legal threshold. A separate pathway lets a worker who has returned to work at least 15 hours a week, earning at least $257 a week (indexed annually), apply to keep receiving reduced weekly payments past 130 weeks, subject to the same impairment test.

The Act itself doesn't print a fixed dollar figure for the statutory maximum; it defines the cap as twice the state average weekly earnings, varied each 1 July from Australian Bureau of Statistics data. WorkSafe Victoria's public guidance and the Victoria Government Gazette (No. S 363, 30 June 2026) both confirm the cap is $3,000 a week as at 1 July 2026, applying to claims first made on or after 5 April 2010, and indexed annually.

Medical and like expenses

Medical and related treatment expenses can be paid directly to the provider or reimbursed to the worker on receipts. A certificate of capacity is required to keep receiving weekly payments, but is not required for a claim that covers medical expenses only.

Permanent impairment lump sums

Non-economic loss lump sums are calculated from an impairment rating assessed under Chapter 3 of the AMA Guides for physical injuries. For physical or other impairment, a rating below 10 percent pays no lump sum. As at 1 July 2026, between 10 and 30 percent the base formula is $26,530 plus $3,980 for each whole point above 10 (with modified components of $16,430 and $14,000 for ratings of 10 to 11 percent). Between 30 and 70 percent it is $106,130 plus $6,640 for each whole point above 30. From 70 to 80 percent it is $369,510 plus $41,360 for each whole point above 70, and from 80 percent the amount is capped at a maximum of $783,000. These figures are indexed each 1 July; the Victoria Government Gazette publishes the current table.

Psychiatric impairment uses a materially higher entry threshold, a rating below 30 percent pays no lump sum at all, compared with 10 percent for physical impairment, using the same formula structure above that, capped at $783,000, the same maximum as the physical-impairment cap. These dollar figures are indexed annually each 1 July; the amounts above are the 1 July 2026 figures published in Victoria Government Gazette No. S 363.

Common law: the serious injury pathway

A worker generally cannot sue for damages unless the injury is a "serious injury," meaning a permanent serious impairment or loss of a body function, a permanent serious disfigurement, a permanent severe mental or behavioural disturbance or disorder, or loss of a foetus. If an impairment assessment rates the worker's whole person impairment at 30 percent or more, the injury is automatically deemed a serious injury, with no need to separately satisfy a narrative test. Below 30 percent, the worker must satisfy the narrative test: the consequence must be "more than significant or marked" and "at least very considerable," or, for a mental or behavioural disturbance, "more than serious to the extent of being severe." Where the claim relies on loss of earning capacity, the worker must show a loss of earning capacity of 40 percent or more that will continue permanently.

The process runs through an application to WorkSafe or the self-insurer for a serious injury certificate, or leave from a court if refused, then a conference and a statutory counter-offer procedure before proceedings. Courts applying any damages award must keep pecuniary loss damages between $79,890 and $1,798,500, and pain and suffering damages between $77,130 and $783,000 (the 1 July 2026 figures under section 340); a jury is not told about these thresholds or about any serious-injury determination.

Disputes

Most disputes about a decision go first to the Workplace Injury Commission (formerly the Accident Compensation Conciliation Service) for conciliation. A claimant can refer certain unresolved disputes to arbitration, but since the 2024 WorkCover Scheme Modernisation Act, arbitration is limited to disputes about the amount or payment of already-accepted compensation, such as weekly payments, superannuation contributions or interest. Liability disputes, including whether someone is a worker, whether an injury occurred or is compensable, and disease-related liability questions, are expressly excluded from arbitration and go to court instead. Referral for arbitration must be lodged within 60 days of the Commission's "genuine dispute" notice. The County Court has exclusive jurisdiction over matters under the Act generally, while the Magistrates' Court has concurrent jurisdiction unless expressly excluded. A Medical Panel gives binding opinions on medical questions referred by a conciliation officer, a court, WorkSafe or an agent, or a self-insurer.

Employer obligations and return to work

Employers must keep and display a register of injuries. To the extent reasonable, an employer must provide suitable employment while the worker has current work capacity, or pre-injury employment once the worker no longer has an incapacity, for an aggregate employment obligation period of 52 weeks of the worker's post-injury incapacity, with carve-outs for periods a claim was rejected or under dispute; penalties apply for non-compliance. Employers must also plan the worker's return to work as soon as they know, or ought to know, of the incapacity, consulting with the worker and, where applicable, a treating health practitioner or the worker's return-to-work coordinator. A dismissal connected to a workers compensation claim can separately raise a general protections issue under federal employment law.

Cross-border claims

The Act contains its own rules for deciding which state or territory a worker is "employed to" for coverage purposes when their work crosses state lines, with the Magistrates' or County Court empowered to decide the question and give effect to prior interstate court decisions on it. recordinglaw did not locate an explicit reference to the Commonwealth's Comcare scheme in this material, so a worker whose employer may be a Commonwealth authority or a licensed self-insurer under the federal scheme should confirm directly with WorkSafe Victoria or Comcare which scheme actually covers them. See our Australia workers compensation guide for how the state-of-connection test generally works nationally, and how NSW and Queensland workers compensation compare, or the NSW page directly.