As of July 1, 2020, the Queensland government has made changes to the WorkCover Queensland scheme. This is based on recommendations from the government’s five-year scheme review.

The three major changes to the scheme are:

• Reporting of injuries and payments even if a claim is not made
• Unpaid interns are now covered under workers’ compensation
• Details, qualifications and training of your RRTWC are now required

This article will cover the second change made to the scheme. To see our articles on the other two changes, please click on the links above.

Unpaid interns are now covered under workers’ compensation

The second change to the scheme is that unpaid interns are now considered to be ‘workers’ under the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003. This means they are entitled to compensation for work-related injuries.

Previously, these were vulnerable individuals because they did not have access to these entitlements in the event of a work-related injury. This change is an extension of coverage to those people in the workplace who were not classed as workers and therefore were not entitled to compensation.

Including unpaid interns in the workers’ compensation scheme was one of the recommendations by the 2018 five-year review of the Queensland scheme. The thinking behind this is that unpaid interns often perform work that would be done by paid workers yet do not have the same protections as paid workers. Instead, unpaid workers have had to rely on the employer’s public liability insurance if they are injured.

An unpaid intern, for the purposes of this new change, is:

‘as a person who is performing work for a business or undertaking without payment of wages to gain practical experience in the type of work performed by the business or undertaking, or to seek to obtain a qualification; and would be a worker if the work they performed was for the payment of wages.’

This description does not include paid interns, who are generally already covered by the scheme as a worker.

In addition, the WorkSafe Queensland website has a useful list of frequently asked questions about this new change to the scheme.

This change may affect workers’ compensation premiums. Employers who engage unpaid interns will need to declare them in their policy renewal. Employers engaging unpaid interns will not be charged upfront premiums; however, according to the WorkSafe Queensland website, ‘any claims costs, such as wages and medical expenses, will be taken into account as claims experience when calculating premium for the employer.’

For more information on these and other changes, please view the WorkSafe Queensland website.

Disclaimer: This article provides general advice and should not be considered legal advice or an insurance consultation. You should seek appropriate counsel for your own situation. In addition, this post is directed at people in Australia. If you are outside Australia, please be aware that the circumstances in your own country may be different.