Workers Compensation

Run your workers compensation claims register: lodge a claim, track its status through to closure, log appointments and capacity certificates, record disputes and costs, and pull reports across the tenant.

Who can use it — This module is switched on per workspace. If it hasn't been enabled for yours, the page and its permissions simply don't exist — ask your Subgrade admin. Where it is enabled, access is split by permission:

"View workers compensation claims" — see the claims register and open a claim's details.
"Manage workers compensation claims" — create and edit claims, change status, log appointments/notes, and manage most of a claim's sub-records (Contacts, Appointments, Capacity Certificates, Return-to-Work Plans, Expenses).
"View workers compensation confidential notes" (or manage claims) — required to see the Case Notes tab at all.
"Manage workers compensation disputes" (or manage claims) — required to see and edit the Disputes tab.
"Run workers compensation reports" — required for the Reports tab.

You need at least one of view/manage claims or run-reports to see Workers Compensation in the sidebar at all.

Where to find it — Workforce & HR → Workers Compensation. The page has up to two tabs depending on your permissions: Claims (the register) and Reports (filtered exports).

How to use it

Claims register

The Claims tab lists every claim for the tenant with Employee, Claim Number, Status, Injury Date, Capacity, Certificate Expires, and Next Appointment. Above the table, stat tiles summarise active claims, certificates expiring within 7 days, appointments in the next 7 days, open disputes, and total open cost — each links straight into a matching Reports filter.

Click New Claim to lodge one directly, or open Claim Details:

Employee — pick from your active tenant employees, or use Manual Employee Name for someone not in the system (a former employee or contractor snapshot).
Claim Number (required, unique per tenant), Insurer, Insurer Claim Reference.
Injury Date, Injury Type, Injury Description.
Status defaults to Lodged and can only be hand-picked at creation — once the claim exists, status changes only through the actions described below.
RTW Review Date and Visible To Employee (a flag reserved for the claim).

Most claims, though, start from an injury incident rather than being lodged here — see Connected pages below.

Claim status lifecycle

A claim moves through these statuses, changed via Change status on the claim's View page (not by editing the Status field directly):

Lodged — the starting point.
In Assessment — via Begin Assessment, available from Lodged.
Accepted — via Accept Claim, available from Lodged or In Assessment.
Return To Work — via Return To Work, available once Accepted.
Closed — via Close Claim, available from any status, and stamps the Closed date. Can be reopened.
Disputed — not chosen manually. It's derived automatically: as soon as a linked dispute is Open or In Review, the claim shows as Disputed (its prior status is remembered); once no disputes remain open, it reverts to that prior status. A Closed claim is never auto-flipped into Disputed.

Reopen Claim returns a Closed claim to Accepted and clears the closed date, then re-checks disputes in case one is still open.

Capacity, certificates & appointments

Current Capacity (No Work / Modified Duties / Full Duties), approved hours per day/week, and the certificate expiry shown on the claim are all derived from the claim's Capacity Certificates — add or update those on the Capacity Certificates tab rather than editing the claim directly; each certificate records a reference, issued/effective/expiry dates, capacity, approved hours, doctor and clinic, an optional attachment (PDF or image, up to 10 MB), and notes.

Likewise, the Upcoming Appointment details on the claim are derived from the Appointments tab. Use Log Appointment on the claim header (or the Appointments tab directly) to record a scheduled date/time, doctor, location, purpose, status (Scheduled/Completed/Cancelled/Rescheduled/Missed), whether to remind the employee, and internal notes.

Case notes (confidential)

Log Note on the claim header (or the Case Notes tab) records a dated entry — type (Discussion, Meeting, Doctor Appointment, Phone Call, Email, Update), subject, and detail. Case notes are gated behind their own confidential-notes permission (or manage claims), separate from general claim viewing — someone who can see a claim's summary may still be unable to see its case notes.

Return-to-work plans, disputes & expenses

Return-to-Work Plans — status (Draft/Active/Superseded/Closed), effective/review dates, plan notes, restrictions, duties summary, hours summary, optionally linked to a specific capacity certificate, with an attachment.
Disputes — who raised it (Employer/Employee/Insurer/Other), dispute type, status (Open/In Review/Resolved/Withdrawn), raised/resolved dates, summary, resolution notes, and an attachment. This is what drives the claim's automatic Disputed status.
Expenses — date, type (Medical/Legal/Rehab/Equipment/Wages Gap/Other), amount, and description. These sum to the claim's Total Cost.
Contacts — name, role, organisation, phone, email, address, and notes for anyone involved in the case (case manager, solicitor, rehab provider, etc.).

Reports

The Reports tab reuses the same claim fields in a filterable table, with a Report picker offering ready-made slices: Claims by Status/Date, Active Claims, Certificates Expiring Soon, Upcoming Appointments, Disputes Open/In Review, Disputes Resolved/Withdrawn, Case Activity Extract, and Total Cost of Claim. Combine it with filters for date range (by Injury/Opened/Closed/Created date), Employee, Status, Capacity, Insurer, Dispute Status, or Expense Type, then click Export CSV to download the current filtered view.

Connected pages

Incidents — an injury incident (worker type Employee, injury sustained) can raise Create Workers Comp Claim directly from the incident record, prefilling the employee, injury date, and injury summary. Once created, the incident shows View Workers Comp Claim instead.
People — the employee record a claim is linked against.
My HR File — an employee's personal HR record; workers comp claims are managed here in Workers Compensation, not there.

Tips & common mistakes

Can't see Workers Compensation in the sidebar? Either the module isn't enabled for your workspace, or you hold none of the view/manage claims or run-reports permissions.
Can't edit the Status field on the form? That's expected once a claim exists — use Change status on the claim's View page instead.
Capacity or certificate-expiry fields look locked? They're derived from the Capacity Certificates tab, not editable on the claim form itself — add or update a certificate there.
Claim stuck showing Disputed? Check the Disputes tab — it stays Disputed while any dispute is Open or In Review; resolve or withdraw it to let the claim's real status show again.
No Case Notes or Disputes tab? Those need their own permissions (confidential notes, manage disputes) beyond general claim access.
Raising a claim from an incident but the button's missing? It only appears when the incident's injury toggle is on, the worker type is Employee, no claim is linked yet, and you hold both incident-manage and workers-comp-manage rights.