Redlich's Work Injury Lawyers has recently helped an injured Victorian worker enforce a direction given by the Conciliation Service after his claim for compensation was rejected by the WorkCover insurer. The injured party's claim was for both workplace stress and a heart attack injury. Both injuries were rejected by the insurer as not being compensable under the Victorian scheme.

At Conciliation, the independent mediator agreed that a genuine dispute existed with respect to the claim for workplace stress. However, they did not accept that the heart attack injury was not covered by the WorkCover compensation scheme, and issued a formal direction to the insurer to accept the worker's claim for medical expenses. The insurer disputed the direction, and issued proceedings in the Magistrates Court to have the direction revoked.

The worker was represented by Genna Angelowitsch and Daryl De Penha. The matter was heard before His Honour Magistrate Smith in July 2014, who rejected the insurer's arguments that the heart attack injury was not sufficiently connected to employment to be covered by the WorkCover system. On this basis, the application by the insurer to revoke the direction was rejected.

When you suffer an injury at work, it is important that you get advice from experts in the area to ensure you are accessing the benefits you are entitled to. If you or someone you know has suffered an injury at work, we invite you to contact our office and speak to a lawyer on (03) 9321 9988.