The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make When Filing for Workers’ Compensation

Being injured while on the job can you put you between a rock and a hard place; it can lead to high medical bills while preventing a person from working to pay for them. Luckily, workers’ compensation insurance protects workers who get injured while on the job. These benefits can cover medical bills, lost income, and much more. All too often, people choose to file their claims without the assistance of an attorney. This can lead to a few common mistakes, and any of these errors can ruin a person’s chance of receiving benefits.

Not Reporting the Injury

One of the biggest mistakes a person can make with their workers’ compensation claim is failing to report their injury to their manager. Several people believe that informing their doctor that their injury was work related is enough, but this is simply not the case.

The first thing a person needs to do when injured on the job is report the accident to their boss. The manager will need to fill out certain paperwork and let their insurance provider know that an injury has occurred. Reporting the injury is the method through which workers’ compensation claims begin, and not reporting it can mean a person has to cover all of their injury related expenses.

Volunteering Information

It’s definitely not a smart idea to lie to an employer or insurance company about what happened during an accident, but there’s no point in volunteering more information than what is asked. A claims adjuster or lawyer will perform an interview, known as a deposition, which asks the worker questions about how an injury occurred.

A worker should only answer questions that are asked and should not start rambling on about other things. A slip of the tongue could be all an insurance company needs to deny a workers’ compensation claim, so it’s important to keep answers straight and to the point.

Missing Deadlines

One terrible mistake that many injured workers make is missing legal deadlines related to their claim. Every state has deadlines that apply to workers’ compensation benefits. Most states require the injury to be reported to the employer within ninety days, so as mentioned earlier, it’s important to immediately let a manager know if an injury has occurred.

There are also several other deadlines that relate to medical care and the filing of paperwork, but these deadlines can be different from place to place. An experienced lawyer will know all of the rules related to workers’ compensation claims in a certain area, so it is beneficial to have these professionals handle the case in its entirety. Missing any of these deadlines can cause a person to receive reduced or no benefits at all.

The process of filing a workers’ compensation claim can be very difficult. The workers at an insurance company know all of the mistakes that workers sometimes make, and they may try to take advantage of these errors. Facing a workers’ compensation claim alone can cause a worker to receive fewer benefits than they would if they had a lawyer and can sometimes lead to no benefits, so getting proper legal help is important.