I'll try to write this as short as possible to avoid a wall of text so please excuse the formatting.
I was injured at work and decided to go to the doctor a week after the actual injury (because I thought that it would go away on its own). I've missed two shifts to date due to the injury. The doctor gave me a WorkCover form which I filled out. I've never had to do this kind of thing before so the process is completely foreign to me and so I thought this was just the standard procedure.
At this stage, I hadn't notified my workplace yet but I was aware that it offered complimentary physio sessions (which is one of the reasons why I decided to go to the doctors in the first place – to get some approval)
Doctor gives me a certificate saying what I can do, what I can't do, etc but the terms essentially limit me to no work because I won't be of use to anyone given the restrictions
Keep in mind, my aim isn't to get some fat payout – I just want to fix my injury and move on because this isn't a permanent injury.
Dr. prints out the form and I bring it back to my manager to talk about it. The certificate pretty much limits me to no work at all so there's a loss in my earnings.
My manager says that the doctors get a cut of the compensation if I were to make a successful claim, which could explain one of the reasons why he wanted me to submit a claim in the first place.
She also tells me that the limits written on the certificate apply to outside the workplace which means no strenuous activities outside of work, too.
She also tells me that receiving some form of compensation may have a negative impact/connotation on my future employability
Because the cert essentially stops me from working, my manager would like me to talk to my Dr. and tell him that I'm able to perform some duties (which I can, but prefer not to because I don't want to stress my injury any more). She tells me she can't cancel the claim because it's in the system already (on the doctor's end)
My manager and I both agree that it would be preferable to sort this in-house and to receive the physio treatment offered by the company.
My question:
There's an obvious information asymmetry problem here – I don't know what I'm entitled to and what the point of going through WorkCover is if I'm willing to sort this out within the company. Suggestions on what I should do next would be much appreciated.
Read this for details.