Most employers that you work with should have workers’ compensation insurance on hand. This, of course, is done to ensure that your medical bills and wages are taken care of if you are ever involved in a work accident. This fact makes a lot of employees feel safer in the workplace. However, even with that protection in place, obtaining the assistance you deserve is still not guaranteed until you have taken the proper steps. Here are four things that most employees don’t know about filing for workers’ comp.
When to File the Claim
Contrary to popular belief, workplace accidents don’t have to be extremely severe for you to begin the process of obtaining workers’ comp benefits. In fact, certain injuries will occur that might not seem like a big deal at the moment but could get worse over time. This is often seen when employees hurt their backs by picking up heavy boxes, for example. In this case, you may be confused about when you should file or if you are even allowed to if you don’t notice the injury until some time after the incident. According to the law, you have 90 days to file a claim with your employer. If you do not meet this deadline, you will have a very difficult time obtaining your benefits.
Why You Need an Attorney
As much as you may like your boss, they are going to do what is best for their company. That is why one of the best things you can do for yourself and your family is to obtain the services of a workers’ compensation attorney. This is especially important if your injury is not clearly work-related. For example, transporting work documents across town to another office and getting into a car accident on the way. Your employer may challenge you by saying that it was not work-related and thus you can’t use workers’ comp.
How to Choose the Right Disability Rating
If you want to ensure that you are getting the settlement that is enough for you to be able to pay your medical bills and live comfortably, you need to have the right disability rating assigned to you. Your doctor will usually assign this rating with a percentage and the affected area. A disability rating will state the severity of your injury and thus will be used to decide your settlement.
You Don’t Need to Only See One Doctor
Most employers will send you out to their doctor to be examined in order to obtain concrete proof that you are indeed injured. Although this is required and you should take the time to speak with them, you are not limited to their service. It is often recommended to seek a second opinion from your personal physician as a means of having additional medical proof of your injury.
As you can see from the information above, there are many layers to the workers’ compensation process. If you’re still unsure of the steps that you need to take, you may seek the services of an attorney as a means of getting through the process as quickly and accurately as possible.