WorkCover Queensland privacy

WorkCover Queensland strives to maintain a balance between protecting a workers' privacy and providing an employer with information to assist them.

Generally, personal information will only be released if authorised or we must do so by law.

For workers, this means that some information about you may be released to your employer.

Workers

What information is given over the phone?

We can discuss information with you over the phone once we have confirmed your identity. We can also discuss matters with people you authorise, for example you may prefer a family member or representative to make enquiries. We will establish that the caller is authorised by you before discussing any claim details.

We will not provide personal information to other parties over the phone unless we are authorised or must do so by law, for example with Centrelink. We will not disclose your address or other contact details.

Who else can access my information?

We can release information to any person you authorise (for example if you give authority to a CTP insurer to access information from your claim file).

Other people we may release information to include:

• employers—we can only release information relating to a worker's capacity to work if the document is necessary to secure the worker's rehabilitation or early return to work. We must also provide the employer with information that we rely upon when making a reviewable claim decision, if the employer is aggrieved by that decision.
• medical and allied health providers—we can only release information if the document will assist with the administration of your claim. This is outlined in WorkCover Queensland’s Privacy Statement that we provide you with after you make a claim.
• other agencies—we can release documents with your consent or if required by law.

Note: Section 572A(1) of the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 states that a person must not use or obtain workers' compensation documents for employment purposes, for example pre-employment check.

There may be times when we are required by law to release information, for example in response to a subpoena for documents relating to a court matter.

Under the Right to Information Act 2009, anyone can apply for access to documents held by WorkCover—this includes your claim file.

We will only release your claim file with your consent, unless otherwise required by law.

More information is available under our applications under the RTI Act or IP Act section.

Employers

What can a customer advisor discuss with me?

Customer advisors can discuss the claim and injury in general terms. This may include:

• the nature of the worker's injury
• work-related causes of the injury
• rehabilitation and return to work issues
• the status of the claim

Unless you have the injured worker's written authority, a customer advisor cannot discuss an injured worker's personal information with you.

What documents can I access on my employees' files?

Generally, we only release personal information if we are authorised or must do so by law. This means we cannot release entire copies of claim files without the worker's signed authority to do so.

Employers have access to records of communication between WorkCover and the employer, via the WorkCover Connect portal.

However, under the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 we are granted permission to release documents under specific circumstances.

• Section 572A(2) enables us to release information relating to a workers' capacity to work if it assists in the worker's rehabilitation and return to work.
• Section 573(7) enables permissible disclosure of information as approved by the Chief Executive Officer.

Further information

• Privacy statement and how your information is managed
• Information Privacy and Right to Information Request Procedure
• WorkCover Queensland publication scheme.