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Why you should always contact the SDA to seek assistance if you have suffered an injury / illness!

A member sustained a physical injury during the course of his employment in October 2023. He lodged a Worker’s Compensation claim which was accepted for the physical injury.

The member subsequently suffered a psychological injury in the form of anxiety and stress due to being bullied at work because of the physical injury and made an application for workers compensation in February 2025.

In April 2025, the Insurer rejected his psychological claim on the basis that the actions taken are considered reasonable management action.

The member made contact with the SDA and was subsequently referred to Optimum Legal for assistance in undertaking a review of the decision to reject the claim.

Optimum Legal provided assistance to the member, funded by the SDA to seek to overturn the decision by the Insurer to reject the claim.

Optimum Legal drafted submissions on behalf of the member and was successful in convincing the Regulator to overturn the decision of the Insurer to reject the claim and the application for compensation was accepted.

The member had ongoing psychological and physical injuries that prevented him from working.

Because of the assistance provided by the SDA and Optimum Legal the member was able to bring a common law action against his employer for negligently causing his injuries for both the physical and psychological claim.

This matter recently resolved with the member receiving a large compensation payment because of his injuries.

As the member was an SDA member, he received the 25% cap guarantee on Optimum Legal’s fees (lawyers can charge up to 50%) plus the funded services in the undertaking of the review to get the psychological claim overturned.

If this member had not contacted the SDA then his position would have been significantly different and he would have been worse off as he would not have received the funded and free services or the capped fee service offered to SDA members by Optimum Legal and the compensation he received would have been substantially less but for the SDA and Optimum Legals intervention.

The lesson for all SDA members is if you suffer an injury or illness whether work or non-work related it is in your best interest to get in contact with the SDA to get private and confidential free advice from not only the SDA but also Optimum Legal.