Don't Make These Mistakes After A Workplace Injury
If you are injured on a job, you may be entitled to financial compensation from a workers compensation claim. Applying for the claim and getting approved, however, are two very different things. If you don't want to torpedo your chances of success before you even get started, keep the following tips in mind.
Don't Wait to Report Your Injury
Some employees try to shake off a workplace injury because they don't want to cause a hassle. But if you don't report the injury and then wake up the next day feeling terrible, you've already taken too much time to tell your boss. Failing to report an injury right away might give the indication that it's not that serious and could work against your claim.
That said, make sure that when you do report, you get the accident or injury report in writing so you can present it with your claim. Just verbally telling your boss what happened is not good enough.
Don't Embellish or Change Your Story
As word travels about your injury, you may get concerned co-workers asking you questions about what happened. It's very important that when you talk about the injury, you stick to the same story every time. Tell the truth about what happened and don't embellish it just to try and get more sympathy.
Also keep in mind that you should never accept blame for the injury while talking about it to someone. That could come back to haunt you later when it's used to deny your claim. As soon as you know that you will be filing a workers comp claim, you should stop talking about the injury altogether until the process is complete.
Don't File a Claim Without an Attorney
Even if your boss or company is sympathetic and seems to be working with you to support your claim, you should still hire an attorney to help you file the paperwork. Even a small mistake on a workers compensation claim could get you denied. You'll also likely find that when you have an attorney contact your employer or send the forms in on your behalf, you'll be able to move forward quickly, as nobody will want to get on the wrong side of your lawyer.
A lawyer can also jump in and help you if you are denied and help you come up with a path forward. Contact a firm like Kavanagh & Kavanagh Law Ofc that offers workers compensation attorney services today for more information.
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