Our client was 49 years old at the time of the accident. He would usually do the grocery shopping and cooking as well as the outside chores around the home and tried to enjoy the beach with his family when not working.
He was employed as a full-time electrician working at an airfield. His main duties were to maintain the lighting and rectify and electrical breakdowns and maintenance work.
Within a year of starting at this job, he was placed on performance management. He had never been informed of issues with his performance or been given a warning of any kind. In fact, a few months prior to his date of injury he had been told he was the highest performing technician on site.
One day, he was contacted to do an urgent job on the airfield. While out escorting two engineers onto the airfield, a large plane began taxiing towards him, coming within 50m of the vehicles, which was a very dangerous situation. Following this incident, our client was bullied and blamed for the incident however investigations into the incident found the tower to be at fault.
Our client suffered from continued emotional distress following the incident and ultimately was diagnosed with anxiety, depression, adjustment disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Our client sought the assistance of our expert personal injury lawyers with respect to his Workers Compensation claim and as he would not be able to return to work, we discussed a Total and Permanent Disability claim within his superannuation fund.
Total and Permanent Disability insurance is a benefit often provided in life-insurance policies as well as within superannuation plans. A request from his superannuation fund was sent through and upon receipt of the policies, our lawyers reviewed the policy definitions and noted our client was eligible to lodge a Total and Permanent Disability claim.
The definition to qualify for Total and Permanent Disability varies from policy to policy but generally the client is required, because of injury or illness, to be absent from all employment for 6 consecutive months and be incapacitated to such extent that it is unlikely they will ever again engage in employment (either on a full time or part time basis) for which they are reasonably qualified by reason of education, training, or experience.
The Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) claim usually involves the completion and lodgement of a member claim form, treating medical practitioners reports as well as an employer statement and other supporting documentation surrounding the client’s lack of ability to continue working.
Our experienced team members reviewed all the documents received in support of our client’s TPD Claim, such as:
- all relevant medical records, reports, and documents from all treating medical practitioners,
- taxation records from prior to the date of incapacity to the present time,
The relevant information in support of his Total and Permanent Disability claim was compiled, and a claim was lodged with the superannuation. The superannuation reviewed the documents supplied for our client’s TPD claim and the claim was approved. Our client was awarded several hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement and was very thankful for the guidance and advice provided.