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Spanish A workplace accident can be scary and leave you confused about what to do next. Follow these tips for a smooth workers’ comp claim for factory staff.
Check Yourself for Injuries
First things first, you need to examine yourself for any pain or discomfort. Do not ignore any minor pain or soreness. Adrenaline can mask the symptoms of a serious injury.
If you feel as though you are seriously injured, do not move unless necessary for your safety. Have your employer call paramedics to the scene. Do not let your employer force you into working while you are injured.
Take Photos of the Hazard That Caused Your Injury
If you are able, you should take photos and video of the accident scene. For example, if you slipped and fell in a puddle of oil, take a photo of the puddle and the machine the oil leaked from.
If you are too injured to do this, you can ask a coworker to take photos for you.
Get Eyewitness Information
If a coworker saw your accident, get their information. You or your lawyer can interview them later. They can give an unbiased account of how your injury occurred.
Report Your Injury to Your Manager
You must report your injury to your manager in writing. We recommend you do so even if your employer saw your injury take place. You typically need to report within 30 days. By reporting your injury in writing, they have no way to deny you reported it to them.
Get Medical Care
Make sure that you get medical care as soon as possible after your injury. You may need to see a specific doctor if your employer is in a medical provider network (MPN). This information should be somewhere highly visible at your place of work. If you are unsure, you can ask your employer whether you need to see an approved doctor.
Don’t Overexert Yourself During Treatment
It’s incredibly important that you follow your doctor’s orders and relax as much as possible during your recovery. Do not do anything that could worsen your injury. This includes things as innocuous as holding your child or riding your motorcycle. The insurer can use this against you and claim you are uninjured.
We recommend that you also ask people to refrain from posting photos of you on social media. The insurer can use these photos against you to claim you are engaging in fraud.
Get Help from a Workers’ Compensation Attorney
Handling a workers’ compensation claim, dealing with insurers, and recovering from a serious illness or injury can feel impossible. But you don’t need to handle it alone. A workers’ compensation attorney can manage the entirety of your claim from start to finish.
Be Aware of These Tactics Insurers Commonly Use
You can expect your employer’s insurance company to fight your claim. If you are prepared for certain tactics, you can protect your claim against them. Or, you can hire our team to handle your case.
Our team knows these tactics and how to fight them.
Claiming You Injured Yourself on Purpose
The insurer or your employer may claim that you purposefully injured yourself in an attempt to recover workers’ compensation benefits.
The insurer may also claim that you were intoxicated or engaging in horseplay when the accident occurred. All of these would disqualify you from receiving benefits.
Claiming You Are Ready to Return to Work Before You Are Able To
The insurance company doesn’t want to pay you lost wages for any longer than it has to. It may attempt to claim that you have recovered enough to return to work—on regular, alternative, or modified duty.
Our team knows these tactics and how to fight them. If the workers’ compensation insurer has stopped your benefits or is trying to get you to return to work early, let our team know.
Do I Need to Prove Fault for My Factory Injury?
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system. This means that you don’t need to prove your employer’s (or a coworker’s) negligence caused your injury. You also don’t need to prove that your negligence didn’t cause your injury.
If your injury happened due to your work (and you didn’t purposefully cause it), you likely qualify for workers’ compensation benefits.
Types of Injuries for Which Our Team Can Help You Recover Workers’ Comp Benefits
All types of injuries can occur in a factory, including, but not limited to:
- Chemical burns, thermal burns, and electric shock burns
- Lacerations
- Amputations
- Crush injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Broken bones
- Spinal cord injuries
- Eye injuries
- Sprains
These injuries can result from all types of accidents, including:
- Explosions
- Slips and falls
- Falling objects
- Crush in-between accidents
- Forklift accidents
- Fires
- Electrocution or electric shock
- Chemical exposure accidents
Injuries can also result from your day-to-day activities. You may suffer hearing loss from being around loud machinery each day. You could suffer carpal tunnel or another repetitive motion injury from doing the same movements over and over on an assembly line. You could suffer a slipped disc or pulled muscle from lifting equipment, twisting your body, or carrying something.
If you suffered an injury at work, it’s likely covered by workers’ comp. Don’t let your employer or their insurer tell you that your injury or illness doesn’t qualify.
Understanding Workers’ Compensation Benefits After a Factory Injury
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system that allows employees to get the benefits they need to obtain medical care and wage coverage.
Medical Care
All reasonable medical care you need because of your factory injury should be covered. You shouldn’t need to pay anything out of pocket for this care.
Lost Wage Benefits
You can also recover lost wage benefits, depending on the specifics of your accident and injury. First, you can only recover income loss benefits if you are out of work for longer than seven days.
There are several different disability benefits you can receive:
- Temporary disability benefits: You can receive either partial temporary or total temporary disability benefits. You can receive up to 66% of your average weekly wage.
- Permanent disability benefits: You can receive either partial permanent or total permanent disability benefits. What you recover depends on the results of your exam by a Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME) as well as your impairment rating.
You can also qualify to receive supplemental job displacement benefits. If you lost a loved one due to a factory accident or illness, you are likely eligible for death benefits. Our team can help you get the benefits you deserve.
Do You Need Help from a Workers’ Comp Attorney?
You have the right to file a workers’ compensation claim on your own. However, you should focus on your recovery, not on fighting with your employer and their insurer.
An attorney can handle the complexities of your workers’ comp case. They can communicate with insurers, fight against any accusations of fraud, and ensure you don’t need to go back to work until you have recovered.
Workers’ Compensation Attorneys Work on a Contingency-Fee Basis
Most people don’t get the help they deserve after a work injury because they think they can’t afford it. However, that isn’t true. Our workers’ compensation team handles cases with no upfront fees. You don’t pay us a cent to get started, and you only pay us if we win.
There is no retainer or hourly fee to worry about. You focus on your recovery; let us handle everything else.
What You Should Know About Returning to Work
Your employer or their insurer may ask you to return on an alternative, modified, or regular work schedule. You should not—and do not have to—return to work until you are cleared to do so. However, this presents its own set of problems. You may feel as though you are not ready to return to work, but your doctor may disagree.
Our team can help you find a second opinion from a QME to keep you out of work until you are prepared to go back.
Remember That You Have the Right to File a Workers’ Compensation Claim
You have the right to obtain the benefits to which you are entitled. However, your employer may attempt to intimidate you or even fire you. If your employer retaliates against you for filing a workers’ compensation claim, our employment law team can help.
Get Help Today With Your Workers’ Compensation Claim
Our team will fight for the benefits you need. We can also help you determine whether you might be eligible to file a third-party claim against a party who caused or contributed to your injury. This could allow you to recover compensation for all the expenses your injury cost you.
Call KJT Law Group today for a free consultation. Learn more about what we will do for you and your family.
