Psychological injury claims are becoming a more expensive and persistent problem across Queensland workplaces, with the latest compensation figures showing they now account for a disproportionate share of scheme costs.

For technology workers, where long hours, restructuring, project pressure and workplace conflict can build over time, the distinction between ordinary stress and a compensable psychological injury is becoming increasingly important.

Queensland firm Smith’s Lawyers has drawn attention to that distinction in updated guidance published on August 5, amid rising concern about the cost and duration of mental health-related claims.

The firm says the term “stress leave” is commonly used in workplaces, but it is not a separate category under Queensland workers’ compensation law and should not be confused with a WorkCover claim.

In practice, workers taking time away because of stress are usually relying on personal or sick leave, while a workers’ compensation claim requires a diagnosed psychological injury linked to employment.

It also points out full-time employees generally receive 10 days of paid personal or carer’s leave each year, but that entitlement sits separately from compensation that may be available where a workplace-related psychological condition has been medically established.

The difference matters because the cost of psychological claims is moving well beyond what their overall numbers might suggest.

Queensland psychological and psychiatric claims increased from 8.1% to 8.6% of statutory claims in 2024-25, yet they accounted for 14.8 per cent of all statutory payments, or $283.2 million.

The claims are also taking considerably longer to resolve.

The average finalised time-lost cost for a psychological or psychiatric injury reached $67,477, more than double the $26,577 average for physical injuries, while the average duration stretched to 180 days compared with 70 days across the scheme overall.

That gap is beginning to matter more in industries where the risks are less obvious than they are on a construction site or factory floor.

In Information Media and Telecommunications, the average finalised time-lost claim cost rose to $47,001 in 2024-25 from $42,924 a year earlier, while professional, scientific and technical services increased from $29,328 to $30,137.

Neither category is made up solely of technology companies, but together they cover a large part of the sector and point to a problem that can be easy to overlook in office-based work.

Psychological injuries are emerging as a serious workforce issue across technology, where the loss of a software developer, cybersecurity analyst or network engineer can leave specialist teams short for months at a time.

That is where the legal definition starts to matter.

Smith’s Lawyers founder and principal Greg Smith says psychological conditions can have the same serious consequences for a person’s ability to work as physical injuries, an issue that carries particular weight in technology roles where specialist staff can be difficult to replace.

“A mental-health claim is not a lesser claim,” Smith said.

According to the firm understanding your rights to stress leave in Queensland requires looking beyond the everyday use of the word “stress” and at whether a recognised psychological injury has developed because of work.

Those conditions can include anxiety, depression, adjustment disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, provided employment has played a significant role.

In technology workplaces, the cause may not be one obvious incident either, with unreasonable workloads, bullying, repeated conflict, organisational upheaval and sustained pressure potentially building over weeks or months.

The evidence can be equally scattered. Emails, performance reviews, Slack conversations, complaints, meeting records and project deadlines may eventually form part of the picture, particularly where there is no single event that can be pointed to as the moment an injury occurred.

Smith’s Lawyers identifies prolonged workloads, bullying and harassment among the circumstances that can contribute to a claim, although the legal test is not one-sided.

Queensland workers’ compensation law excludes psychological injuries caused by reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable way, which means a restructure, disciplinary process or performance review does not automatically become compensable simply because it causes distress.

That carve-out is especially relevant in technology, an industry where restructures, cancelled projects, missed delivery targets and sudden reporting changes are hardly unusual.

In many cases, the argument may turn less on whether a worker found the experience stressful and more on whether management handled the process reasonably.

Smith’s Lawyers has also been talking more broadly about the way workplace mental health is being treated by employers and regulators.

In January, Practice Group Leader Jason Monro wrote, “Workplace mental health is no longer something on the fringes,” pointing to psychological safety becoming a more established part of workplace risk management.

That shift is showing up in national data as well.

Worksafe Australia’s 2025 National Return to Work Survey found 90.2% of workers with physical injuries had returned to work, compared with 76.5% of workers with psychological injuries, while the overall return-to-work rate fell from 91.6% in 2021 to 88.9% in 2025.

The same survey found a sizeable difference where employers had a rehabilitation and return-to-work plan in place.

Workers with a plan recorded a 94% return rate compared with 81.7% among those without one, suggesting the way an employer responds after an injury can materially affect how quickly someone gets back to work.

Safe Work Australia’s national figures tell a similar story.

Mental health conditions accounted for 17,600 serious workers’ compensation claims in 2023-24, equal to 12% of all serious claims and up 14.7% in a year, while the median time lost reached 35.7 weeks and median compensation hit $67,400.

For technology businesses, those numbers make the issue difficult to leave sitting with human resources alone.

A specialist who disappears from a development, infrastructure or cybersecurity team for several months can create operational problems almost immediately, particularly in smaller companies where skills and system knowledge may sit with only one or two people.

Smith’s Lawyers also warns that workers cannot assume they have unlimited time to work out whether their condition has become a compensation matter.

Its Queensland guidance says WorkCover claims generally need to be lodged within six months of a psychological injury being medically assessed, with medical certificates and records of relevant workplace events likely to become important if a claim is made.

None of that means every rough deadline, bad meeting or unpleasant manager becomes a workers’ compensation case, but Queensland figures show psychological injuries are taking longer to resolve and costing considerably more than the average claim

For an industry used to worrying about system outages, the more costly disruption may increasingly be the people who disappear from teams for weeks or months.