Dealing with Workplace Injury? Here’s How to Protect Your Rights & Benefits
Dealing with a workplace injury can be an extremely stressful, sometimes even life-changing, experience to go through. As well as the injury itself, there’s a whole host of other important aspects that you need to sort out, so it’s completely understandable to feel overwhelmed by it all.
Unfortunately, as stressful as it might be, getting injured while at work is something that some of us may have to deal with. The best thing you can do is to ensure you’re prepared should it ever happen. That’s why, in this article, we’re sharing 10 tips for protecting your rights, maximizing your benefits, and getting yourself back on track as quickly as possible.
1. Seek Medical Attention
Naturally, the first step in the process is to seek immediate medical attention. Don’t try to diagnose yourself – even what looks to be a ‘minor’ injury to you could be more serious than you think, particularly if it involves your head, neck, or spine.
Head to a doctor as soon as possible to get checked out, and be sure to keep proper records of any diagnosis and treatments that take place. You’ll come to rely on this evidence later.
2. Time Is of the Essence
If you sustain an injury, you should always report it immediately; if you’re reading this article and you haven’t done so yet, stop and inform your employer in writing.
As a key piece of evidence, your reporting of the incident is the very first step in the chain, and it’ll be one of the first things the insurers ask for once you make a claim. Reporting your injury gets the ball rolling, and if you fail to do so, there will be questions and suspicion about why you didn’t, lessening your chances of the successful outcome you deserve.
3. Research Your State’s Compensation Laws
While delving into the complexities of the law might seem like the last thing you want to do as you’re getting over the stress of an injury, it’s key that you do some research early. Laws regarding workers’ compensation can differ considerably from state to state, so you need to secure a fundamental understanding of where you stand and what you may be entitled to.
Simply search the name of your state and ‘workers’ compensation laws’, and the first search result will likely guide you in the right direction.
4. Choosing the Right Lawyer
If your case appears to be complex or you have trouble understanding the intricacies of your state’s compensation laws, it’s always a good idea to contact an experienced labor and industries attorney.
A legal professional can prove invaluable for helping you navigate this situation as smoothly as possible, and if your employer or insurers try to contest you in any way, they’ll be able to advise on the route to take, explain your rights clearly,, and help you challenge any rebuttals.
5. Following Medical Advice
Having seen a doctor and gotten the relevant treatment, it’s also essential that you continue to follow their advice. This is primarily to ensure that you heal properly but also for compensation purposes: follow any advice and instructions your doctor gives you to the letter because if you don’t, your employer or insurer may suggest that your injuries are not severe enough to warrant further action.
6. Document Everything
Having followed the steps above, you should now be at a point where you’re starting to heal and have a rudimentary understanding of your compensation rights.
Now is the time to start documenting everything to do with your injury so that you have as much evidence as possible. You should already have any relevant medical information regarding the nature of your injury and the financial costs incurred, but you should also be filing away any correspondence with your employer, taking pictures of the injury if it’s visible, and gathering statements from witnesses.
7. Don’t Discuss Your Case on Social Media
Given how integrated social media is in our society, it can be tempting to vent online about what you’re going through with your workplace injury – but you should always avoid doing this.
It’s possible that if you have difficulty making a claim, your employer or insurer may take a look through your social media to find evidence against you. Posting about your injury may seem harmless enough, but it can quickly get you in hot water if you’re not careful.
8. On Dealing with Insurance Companies
While insurance companies are ultimately there to provide compensation, it’s important to be aware of the fact that they’ll always be trying to minimize payouts, resulting in you getting less than you’re owed.
This is another reason why a lawyer is important, as they’re familiar with the tricks insurers use to avoid larger payouts. Always consult with legal representation before you sign anything, and make sure to scrutinize the breakdown of any payouts to ensure every aspect is covered.
9. Your Return-to-Work Rights
Having settled everything and recovered or mostly recovered from your injury, you’ll then need to start thinking about your return to work, and it’s important to remember that you have rights here, too.
There are rules governing unfair dismissal if it comes to that, and you also have rights that prevent your role from being changed or altered based on the injury. Again, you’ll need to investigate the specifics concerning the state you live in.
10. Thinking Long-Term
Hopefully, the injury you sustained is something you can recover from quickly and move on from, but that’s not always the case.
If the accident results in any long-term health problems or is likely to, you’ll need to consider settlements carefully to ensure they cover these aspects. Many insurers will simply try to pay out only for the acute injury itself, so consult with your doctor and get their backing in writing if the problem will result in a long-standing financial penalty and continued hardship.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, these tips have helped you organize your mind so that you can deal with your injury as quickly and effectively as possible. If you haven’t experienced an injury, you now have some insight into the most important elements of managing one should it ever happen.
A workplace injury will always be tough to deal with; that’s why, in addition to these 10 important points, you should take any necessary steps to support your mental health as you go through what can be a very stressful process.