Recovering After a Workplace Injury in Newfoundland and Labrador: A Complete Guide

Newfoundland and Labrador gives you thirty days, then thirty days again. It is the tightest pair of windows in the country. It also carries one rule almost nobody knows about until it is too late to fix: at the external review you can only call witnesses who have already put something on your file.

What should I do first after a workplace injury in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Tell your employer, then see a doctor and say the injury happened at work. Report to WorkplaceNL yourself rather than assuming your employer's report covers you.

Then do one thing that will not feel urgent and is. If anyone saw what happened, or can speak to how the injury has changed what you can do, get their statement onto your file early. The reason is in the witness section below.

How long do I have to appeal?

Two stages, both short, and you must finish the first before the second will look at you.

Step Time limit
Request for Internal Review at WorkplaceNL 30 days from receiving the decision
Extra information after filing your internal review 3 weeks from the notification letter
Request for external review at the Workers' Compensation Independent Review Board 30 days from the internal review decision
Absolute outer limit, even with an extension granted 1 year from the WorkplaceNL decision

Your Request for Internal Review has to state the reasons you disagree, not simply that you do. Internal review is a paper process, and the final decision is usually signed by an Internal Review Specialist.

That last row is the one to hold onto. The Chief Review Commissioner can grant an extension of the thirty day external window, though no extension will exceed one year from the date of the WorkplaceNL decision. After that there is no route back, whatever the reason for the delay.

Full dates and forms are on our Newfoundland and Labrador WorkplaceNL appeal deadlines page.

The witness rule, and why it changes what you do in week one

At an external review you may call witnesses. They are limited to people who have already submitted documents on your file.

Read that carefully, because it runs backwards from how most people imagine a hearing works. You cannot decide at hearing stage that your supervisor should explain what the job actually involved, or that your partner should describe what you can no longer manage at home, and simply bring them along. If their words are not already on the file, they cannot speak.

So a witness statement is not something you gather when you decide to appeal. It is something you gather while the person still remembers, and you get it onto the file then. That is a documentation task with a hard door attached to it.

Does an internal review look at my whole claim?

No. WorkplaceNL states it plainly: a request for internal review is for that decision only, not a review of previous decisions on your file.

With a thirty day clock on each decision, that means every decision you disagree with needs its own timely request. A decision you let pass because you were focused on a bigger one is not waiting for you later.

New information that is not already on your file has to go to the original decision maker first, not to review. You can upload it through a MyWorkplaceNL account or send it to the employee who made the decision. Medical reports and witness statements are the usual examples.

What should I be writing down?

Three things, and the first two are shaped by rules specific to this province.

  • Who saw what, with their contact details, in the first week. Because of the witness rule, an unrecorded observer is a witness you will not be able to call.
  • Every decision, the date you received it and your reasons for disagreeing. Thirty days each, and no retrospective sweep.
  • Every symptom you reported and to whom. Internal review is a paper process, so the paper is the whole of it.

Our free Resource Hub has fillable trackers for symptoms, appointments, correspondence and return to work.

Who can help me for free?

The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour has worker advisors who may be able to help injured workers, and WorkplaceNL points people to them directly. If you are in a union, your local should be your first call.

The Workers' Compensation Independent Review Board is independent of WorkplaceNL and publishes its own guidance along with a searchable database of decisions going back to January 2013. Reading a few decisions on your issue is the fastest way to understand what actually persuades a Review Commissioner. WorkplaceNL sets out both review processes and its own procedures.

By statute the external review is meant to be processed within sixty days. Waits have historically run considerably longer than that, so plan on the process taking a while and keep recording throughout it.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Companion Guide

Our Newfoundland and Labrador Workplace Injury Companion Guide carries the deadlines, forms, board names and appeal routes for this province, with fillable space for the record you build alongside them. Pair it with The Way Back National Recovery Guide.

Last verified July 2026 against WorkplaceNL and the Workers' Compensation Independent Review Board. We re-check these pages quarterly. If you find something wrong here, write to Recovery@hurtsquare.ca and we will correct it publicly.

This page is general information for people in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is not legal or medical advice. Confirm anything specific to your situation with a worker advisor, your union or WorkplaceNL.