Hi there. If you have suffered a work-related injury or illness (including a non-physical injury, such as psychological or mental harm), you may have the right to sue your employer for compensation or ‘damages’. While this legal claim may originate in tort law, as you identified, there are a number of statutory procedural requirements that you must follow by law. In Victoria, these requirements are set out in the workers’ compensation legislation, called the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic) and Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic).

According to this legislation, before any court proceedings can commence, you must complete and submit a ‘serious injury application’ to WorkSafe Victoria. WorkSafe Victoria must find that your injury is ‘serious’, as that word is defined in the above legislation. If your injury is found to be ‘serious’, there are additional steps that must be followed before you can commence court proceedings – including holding a conference with WorkSafe Victoria and receiving a statutory offer of compromise in relation to the claim. You may also be required to make a statutory counter offer, depending on the circumstances of your case. If your injury is not found to be ‘serious’ by WorkSafe Victoria, you may not be eligible to commence legal proceedings.

Based on the information you provided, it appears that the plaintiff did not obtain a certificate of serious injury from WorkSafe Victoria before commencing proceedings against their former employer in the County Court. The judge most likely dismissed the proceedings because the plaintiff had not complied with the appropriate procedure.