If you are hurt at work in Newfoundland and Labrador, tell your supervisor right away and before you leave the worksite, see a health care provider, and submit a Worker's Report of Injury, Form 6, to WorkplaceNL. The law gives you three months from the injury to make the claim. Earnings loss benefits are 85 per cent of net earnings. If you disagree with a decision, you have 30 days to ask for an internal review, then 30 days to go to the Workers' Compensation Independent Review Board.
A WorkplaceNL claim moves on short clocks, and several of them start from letters rather than from the injury. Here is the route in order, and what to keep track of along the way.
What should you do right after the injury?
Get the care you need. Then tell your supervisor what happened, where it happened and who saw it. WorkplaceNL asks you to do this immediately and before you leave the worksite, and the Act ties the notice to your employer to the same moment: it is due before you voluntarily leave the job you were hurt in.
Tell your health care provider the injury is work related. A physician, physiotherapist or chiropractor will complete their own report to WorkplaceNL and give you a copy. Bring that copy to your employer so they can complete the Employer's Report of Injury, Form 7.
How do you file a WorkplaceNL claim?
Submit a Worker's Report of Injury, Form 6, online through MyWorkplaceNL. If you cannot do it online, the Form 6 PDF is on WorkplaceNL's new claim page. WorkplaceNL then reviews your Form 6, your employer's Form 7 and your provider's report, and decides the claim.
Section 61 of the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Act, 2022 says compensation is not payable unless the claim is made within three months of the injury. For an occupational disease, the three months runs from when you knew or ought reasonably to have known you had it.
If you missed the notice or the three months, section 62 can still help. The failure does not bar compensation where WorkplaceNL is of the opinion that it was due to circumstances beyond your control and your employer was not prejudiced by it. Both conditions must be met, so write down why you were late and what could still be checked when you came forward.
What benefits does WorkplaceNL pay?
Under WorkplaceNL's benefit calculation policy, earnings loss benefits are 85 per cent of net earnings. Net earnings are worked out by deducting probable income tax from your gross earnings. Compensation is payable from the first day of lost earnings after the day of injury, and your employer pays you for the day of the injury itself. Earnings are capped at a maximum set each year under the Act.
Short-term rates apply first. If your disability continues beyond 13 weeks, WorkplaceNL sets a long-term rate, so the amount you receive can change. Keep a note of each payment and the period it covers, because that is how you will spot a change you were not expecting.
Your employer has its own clock. Section 65 of the Act requires an employer to give WorkplaceNL written notice of a work-related injury within three days of receiving the information. If you are unsure whether that happened, ask WorkplaceNL.
Health care and return to work support sit alongside earnings loss. Your case manager can confirm what applies to your claim.
What if you disagree with a decision?
There are two review steps, and each has its own 30 days.
- Internal review by WorkplaceNL. Send a written request within 30 days of receiving the decision, stating the reasons you disagree. The review looks at that decision only, not your whole claim.
- External review by the Workers' Compensation Independent Review Board. If you still disagree, apply within 30 days. Section 39(1) counts from receiving the written decision; WorkplaceNL publishes the window as 30 days from the date of the decision. Work to the earlier date and you are inside both.
Late is not always too late. Under section 39(2), the Chief Review Commissioner may accept an application after the 30 days, but not more than one year after the decision was communicated to you.
If you are searching for the review board and finding little, its earlier name was the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Review Division. Older guidance still uses it.
Our article on Newfoundland and Labrador WorkplaceNL appeal deadlines sets out every clock, including what the review board can and cannot decide.
Is there free help?
Yes. WorkplaceNL points injured workers to free worker advisors who do not work for WorkplaceNL. They can explain a decision and help you prepare a review. Call them before you file a review rather than after, because the application has to say how the decision is contrary to the Act, the regulations or policy.
What if you were hurt in a vehicle at work?
A motor vehicle injury at work can give you a choice between claiming from WorkplaceNL and suing, and the Act gives you three months to make it. Applying for compensation counts as that choice. Our article on car accident injury claims in Newfoundland and Labrador explains the road side.
What should you write down?
- The date and time you told your supervisor, who it was, and whether it was before you left the site
- The date your Form 6 was submitted, with a copy or screenshot
- The arrival date of every decision letter, next to the date printed on it
- Every symptom, appointment and treatment, with dates
- Every call with WorkplaceNL, who you spoke with and what was said
- Days you could not work and what you were paid for each
Keeping the record
In this province, two dates can sit on one letter and decide two different deadlines. Writing both down the day the envelope arrives is a small habit that keeps every option open. Recovering after a workplace injury in Newfoundland and Labrador covers the whole process. The National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide keeps the daily record, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Workplace Injury Companion Guide keeps the province's dates and forms.
Why use Hurt Square?
Because WorkplaceNL decides on what reaches your file, and the deadline to report comes fast. Hurt Square guides give you one place to keep it all.
- Your account, written as it happens. The National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide has structured space for your symptoms, appointments, time away from work and every conversation with your employer and WorkplaceNL.
- The Newfoundland and Labrador rules, in plain words. The Newfoundland and Labrador Workplace Injury Companion Guide holds the board, the forms, the deadlines and the appeal routes in Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Made for hard days. 123 pages and more than 1,200 fillable fields that work on your phone, tablet or computer, in plain language. When your union representative, worker adviser or lawyer asks for something, it is already there.
Both guides, $49. The National Workplace Injury Recovery Guide and the Newfoundland and Labrador Workplace Injury Companion Guide, with the discount applied at checkout. Normally $63.99.
Get both guidesSources
- WorkplaceNL, New claim
- WorkplaceNL, Policy EL-01 Benefit Calculation, revision dated 23 October 2025
- WorkplaceNL, Request a Review of a Decision
- Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Act, 2022, SNL 2022 c W-11.1, sections 39, 54, 61, 62 and 65
Last verified: 14 October 2026. If you find something out of date here, write to Recovery@hurtsquare.ca and we will correct it publicly.
This article is general information for people in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is not legal or medical advice; the Act and your decision letters govern.
