Apply the Queensland three-times earnings cap to weekly loss
MaintainedLast reviewed
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the weekly loss the lawyer accepts, show three times average weekly earnings as the section 54 cap and flag any week above it. Do not insert the earnings dollar, and do not decide the loss.
- What the lawyer must review
- Confirm chapter 3 applies to this award
- Use the schedule 2 measure, not another earnings series
- Leave the average weekly earnings dollar blank
- Wage and tax records stay in a firm-controlled tool. Check ASCR r 9, APP 11 and Privacy Act notification
Rules that apply
The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.
The work product
Forum. Queensland award of personal injury damages to which Civil Liability Act chapter 3 applies
Produce. A comparison of the lawyer's weekly loss with three times average weekly earnings, with the earnings dollar left blank until the lawyer supplies it.
Have ready. The weekly loss the lawyer accepts; The financial year and the earnings figure the lawyer supplies.
Example of the limit. Illustrative example: The table shows a week above three times the figure the lawyer typed. The tool does not look up the earnings series itself.
Stop and hand it back when
- Chapter 3 may not apply.
- No earnings figure has been supplied by the lawyer.
Sources for this task were checked on 2026-10-23.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | From the weekly loss the lawyer accepts, show three times average weekly earnings as the section 54 cap and flag any week above it. Do not insert the earnings dollar, and do not decide the loss. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Section 54 limits an award for loss of earnings, including in a dependency claim, to the present value of three times average weekly earnings per week for each week of the period. Present value means the value when the award is made.
- Schedule 2 defines average weekly earnings, for a financial year, as the Queensland full-time adult persons ordinary time earnings declared by the Australian Statistician in the original series of the average weekly earnings publication most recently published before the start of that financial year. It is not the all-employees total-earnings measure. No dollar of that series was opened.
- Apply the cap only if the lawyer says chapter 3 applies. Section 5 may take the injury outside the Act.
- The tool shows the cap against the weekly loss the lawyer accepts. It does not find the loss and it does not write a schedule that will be filed or served.
Forms and precedents for this task
| Form or precedent | Kind | AI use | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria Wrongs Act caps worksheet | Other | AI use Yellow | Worksheet for the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) limits that were opened: the earnings cap, the indexed non-economic loss maximum, the discount rate, and the gratuitous care limits. |
Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one. All precedents.
Sources
- Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) section 54 · 2026-10-23
- Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) schedule 2 · 2026-10-23
- Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) section 5 · 2026-10-23
Section 5(1) says this Act does not apply in deciding liability or awards of damages for personal injury if the harm is or includes an injury for which compensation is payable under the WorkCover Queensland Act 1996, other than an injury to which section 36(1)(c) or 37 of that Act applies, or under the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003, other than an injury to which section 34(1)(c) or 35 of that Act applies, or a dust-related condition, or an injury from smoking or other use of tobacco products or exposure to tobacco smoke. Section 5(2) says it is immaterial whether compensation is claimed or whether the entitlement to seek damages is regulated under the relevant Act. Section 5(3) keeps this Act for deciding awards of section 59A damages for a dust-related condition or a tobacco injury. It does not keep the rest of the Act for a work injury. Sections 34 and 35 of the 2003 Act and sections 36 and 37 of the 1996 Act were not opened, so the content of those carve-outs is not described. The official reprint is current from 1 July 2024. Section text was read on AustLII.
Wage, tax and care records stay in a firm-controlled tool. Apply ASCR r 9 and APP 11, and consider whether a breach is notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).