You were on your way to work. Or on your way home. You were not at the workplace, you were not being paid for that time, and now you are injured and out of pocket.
Can you claim? In NSW, sometimes yes — through what is known as a journey claim.
This article replaces our earlier piece on being injured travelling to work. That version was written in 2020, and both the scheme and the practical guidance have moved on since.
What has changed and why this matters now
Journey claims in NSW have been narrower since 2012 than many workers assume. The workers compensation scheme does not automatically cover every journey to or from work.
In recent years, the practical assessment of journey claims has become increasingly complex. Workers are more likely to work from home, split their time between multiple worksites, travel directly between locations, or perform work outside traditional working hours. As a result, questions that may once have been straightforward, such as whether a worker was travelling to work or undertaking a private activity, are often far more nuanced.
Hybrid work, multiple worksites, gig and on-demand work, flexible working arrangements and home-based employment can all affect whether a particular journey is sufficiently connected with employment to attract workers compensation coverage.
For that reason, the circumstances of the journey are often critical. Factors such as where the worker was travelling from and to, the purpose of the journey, whether there were any substantial deviations, and the connection between the journey and the worker’s employment can all be relevant in determining whether compensation is payable.
The test: a real and substantial connection
To succeed in a NSW journey claim, there must be a genuine connection between the worker’s employment and the circumstances in which the injury occurred. It is not enough that the injury happened while travelling to or from work.
The focus is on whether the employment materially contributed to the journey or the risk that led to the injury. The stronger the connection between the employment and the journey, the more likely it is that the claim will satisfy the legislative requirements.
In practice, this connection is often easier to establish where the employer had some influence over the journey. Examples may include situations where a worker was:
- Directed to attend a particular location;
- Required to travel between worksites;
- Carrying work equipment or materials;
- Travelling at a specific time because of rostered duties; or
- Undertaking travel as part of their employment responsibilities.
By contrast, it can be more difficult to establish the necessary connection where the injury arose during an ordinary commute and the employment played little or no role in the circumstances giving rise to the accident.
Because every case turns on its own facts, the critical question is not simply whether the worker was travelling to or from work, but whether there was a sufficient connection between the employment and the injury-producing incident.
Journey claim or CTP claim? Often both
This is the point most guides miss.
If you were injured in a motor vehicle accident while travelling to or from work, you may have two separate avenues available: a workers compensation journey claim, and a compulsory third party (CTP) claim under the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW).
They are different schemes, with different benefits, different time limits and different decision-makers. A CTP claim can provide statutory benefits regardless of fault in some circumstances, and damages where another driver was negligent.
They also interact — you generally cannot be paid twice for the same loss, and one scheme may seek recovery from the other.
This is genuinely one of the areas where early advice pays for itself. Lodging in one scheme and missing the deadline in the other is a costly, avoidable mistake. Our guide to statutory benefits under the Motor Accident Injuries Act explains the CTP side, and our CTP claim lawyers handle both pathways together.
What breaks the connection
Certain things can defeat a journey claim even where the trip itself would otherwise qualify:
- Substantial interruptions and deviations
Detouring for a personal errand can break the journey. A short, ordinary stop is treated differently from a genuine departure from the route or a lengthy delay.
- Conduct that materially increases the risk
Where the injured worker’s own conduct significantly increased the risk of injury, cover may be affected.
- No genuine work purpose
If the journey was not, on the evidence, a journey to or from work at all, the claim fails at the first hurdle.
Insurers examine these questions closely, and they will look at your phone data, transactions, rosters and route.
Where working from home complicates things
If you work partly from home, the boundary between “commuting” and “working” is no longer a front door.
Travel between your home office and a client site during the working day is usually a different legal question from your morning commute — it may be travel in the course of employment rather than a journey claim at all, which is generally a stronger position.
Our article on injuries from working from home covers the home-based side of this, and our guide to work travel and journey claims covers travel between sites.
Gig and on-demand workers face an additional threshold question — whether they are a worker at all for scheme purposes. See our guide to compensation rights for gig workers and contractors.
Practical takeaways
- Report it to your employer straight away, even though you were not at work. In writing.
- Call the police to the scene if a vehicle was involved, and get the event number.
- Photograph the location — the intersection, the footpath, the hazard, the vehicles.
- Get the other driver’s details and registration, and any witness contacts.
- Tell your GP it happened on the way to or from work. That single sentence in the notes matters later.
- Write down your route, your departure time and your reason for travelling while you remember it precisely.
- Get advice on both schemes, not one. Workers compensation and CTP run on separate clocks.
- Do not give a recorded statement to an insurer before you understand which scheme you are in.
Why speak to Gajic Lawyers
Journey claims sit on the border between two compensation schemes, and that is exactly where claims get lost. We have run both workers compensation and motor accident claims for more than 30 years, which means we can assess both pathways in a single conversation rather than sending you elsewhere.
Our practice is paperless and technology driven. We can take your instructions by phone or video, arrange telemedicine assessments, and run your claim end to end without you travelling to an office — which matters when you are injured. We also offer an in-house interpreter service in Vietnamese, and our Cabramatta team serves the Fairfield and Liverpool corridors. Everything is handled on a No Win No Fee basis.
If you were hurt travelling to or from work, get both options assessed before a deadline decides for you.
