Useful Tips for Winning a Workers’ Compensation Claim
Workers’ compensation is a vital part of any workplace. It provides workers with the financial support they need if they become injured or ill during their employment and can’t work. To help you to get workers’ compensation, we have compiled some useful tips that will help you to win your workers’ compensation claim!
Know the difference between a work injury and an occupational disease
Work injuries are physical harm or damage that happen as a result of your employment. These can include mental and psychological illnesses, hearing loss, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), anxiety, stress, and depression.
Occupational diseases usually take longer to appear than workers’ compensation claims for work injuries do – they’re generally caused by long-term exposure to harmful substances while at work, like asbestos or noise-induced deafness.
They may also be the result of an infectious disease contracted in the workplace because workers don’t have immunity against it. For example, workers who handle animals could contract rabies if bitten by one; workers exposed to chemicals might develop conditions such as dermatitis or cancer later on down the line; severe infections caught during a surgical procedure at work could lead to workers developing an autoimmune disease.
If you’re unsure whether your condition is a work injury or an occupational disease, it’s best to speak with one of the workers compensation lawyers as soon as possible! They can help you decide which type of workers’ compensation claim would be most effective for winning your case, if necessary.
Report your injury to your employer as soon as possible
It’s important to report your injury or illness as soon as you become aware of it. Even if the symptoms are minor, workers’ compensation insurance companies will want proof that you reported them within a certain amount of time after they became apparent – for example, seven days following a work-related back strain.
If an inspector from workers’ comp comes by and catches wind that there might be something wrong with one of their employees, but nobody has bothered reporting it yet, they can penalize employers in some states where workers’ compensation is compulsory! In other words: do NOT wait to tell someone about how hurt/ill you are at work if there was any chance whatsoever that this could’ve happened because of your employment. Report immediately!
Document all of the things that you do in order to help with your recovery
Some of them are seeing doctors, physical therapy appointments, or taking medication. These are things that workers’ compensation insurance companies will expect you to do in order to help with your recovery.
That’s why it’s important for workers’ comp claimants to keep a detailed log of all the medical visits and treatments they receive, as well as their medication schedules and any other activities that might be useful when trying to win workers’ compensation cases (such as taking anti-inflammatory supplements like glucosamine). If necessary, workers can also include receipts in this documentation so long as the total cost of these expenditures doesn’t exceed $1500 per year.
The more organized employees are about tracking their own care plans following workplace injuries or illnesses, the easier it is for them later on down the line if/when they need proof during hearings or meetings.
This information can be used to support workers’ compensation claims, so it’s important for workers who are filing these kinds of cases not to lose any documentation related to their injuries/illnesses at work!
Paperwork should never be thrown away without first making copies if necessary, and storage space doesn’t have to be fancy – simply keeping documents in a binder or loose-leaf folder could make all the difference later on down the line when workers need proof that they reported their injury immediately after it happened (or whatever else may apply).
Get medical treatment for any injuries – don’t just try to “tough it out”
Even if workers don’t feel any pain or discomfort following an injury at work, workers’ compensation insurance companies can deny their claims based on the fact that there’s no objective evidence of an illness/injury. That means it is possible to be hurt badly enough to qualify for workers’ compensation without even realizing it!
Some injuries are obvious (for example, a broken bone), but others could take months before they fully manifest themselves in terms of physical symptoms – especially back conditions and repetitive motion syndrome. If you’ve had surgery because of these problems, workers will need proof that they were caused by workplace accidents, so long as this wasn’t something that was self-inflicted or pre-existing prior to working with your current employer.
Keep copies of anything related to your claim
Receipts from medical visits or bills, notes about conversations you had with people at work about how they’re treating you after the accident, workers’ compensation forms that are filed, letters or e-mails about your injury/illness at work – there’s no limit to the kinds of documentation workers can have when they file workers’ comp claims.
Employees need to be prepared for anything and everything in order to win their cases successfully! Keeping copious amounts of paperwork related to any workers’ compensation claim is absolutely essential if employees want a strong case against an insurance company, who might otherwise try denying them benefits despite all evidence otherwise.
Contact a lawyer if there is any retaliation against you for filing a workers’ comp claim (i.e., being fired)
This is a big problem in workers’ compensation cases, and employees should be prepared for it.
Even if workers aren’t fired shortly after filing workers’ comp claims (which does sometimes happen), they may still experience other forms of retaliation by their employers or co-workers later on down the line – such as being passed up for promotions that were previously promised to them before this happened. This can make getting back into the workforce even harder than it already was!
That’s why workers need legal help when dealing with any kind of workplace disputes related to injuries/illnesses at work. Regardless of whether workers are afraid of losing their jobs or want to take more time off from work so that they can recuperate properly, these kinds of problems are complicated to deal with on their own.
The most important thing you can do to win a workers’ compensation claim is to document and report your injury as soon as possible. Remember that just because it may seem like everything will be fine for now, doesn’t mean that the issue won’t worsen or become more complicated down the line. It’s also important to get medical treatment for any injuries, so they don’t continue hurting forever! If you suspect retaliation from your employer after filing a workers’ comp claim, contact an attorney right away if this happens.
