Top 15 Mistakes to Avoid After Getting Injured at Work

Workplace injuries can happen at the worst of times. But is there even any right time for a workplace injury to occur? No, but there is plenty of time to prepare for these before they can happen. Some people even wait until their conditions get worse to report them. This handling of the situation has diverse repercussions but is almost always the case.

With the exclusion of a small percentage, every other employee doesn’t prepare for when things can turn against them, and them working in such a place can become harmful to health. But not all is lost even after encountering an injury at the workplace. You can still make up for it by demanding your rights and taking the party to court.

However, as you start your journey to getting compensated by the employer who inflicted harm on you, there will be several obstacles. These hindrances can be either oppositions from the authoritative-opponent or difficulties in understanding the law requirements for filing. No matter, these things aren’t something that can’t be handled by you or your lawyer, but first, you must be prepared. The following mistakes and regrets of some people filing for worker’s comp may help you learn some lessons to succeed in your own case:

Not Knowing Your Rights

A workplace injury case doesn’t only include the negligence and inflicting of an employer or workplace, but can be yours as well. The number one injustice you are doing to yourself with a workplace injury is not knowing what your rights are before or after it. When you assume that you don’t have the right to a claim of the injury occurred can be an example of not knowing your rights. There is a whole list of things that you can do with your personal injury claim that can help you proceed with your case in your favor. And this can only happen when you know your rights and authorizations to it.

Excluding Your Employer in Talking About the Injury

No matter how stern or vicious your boss looks like, he/she cares about their employees the most. Even if they don’t, they have the responsibility of supplying them with the basic necessities and conducting good behavior with them. So you also must supply them with information about your injury as soon as it’s apparent. Your workplace has the responsibility to handle your injuries in accordance with the law applied to every company. They may also provide you a form to fill on the nature of your injury and details on it. With this form, you get reimbursed for your damages and access as many leaves as needed. If the company fails to provide you such aid for your injury or doesn’t provide the right assistance for it, then the only option is to go for legal help.

Not Talking to Your Family Doctor

The doctor, the insurance company, provides you will be more on your employer’s side and may represent them. Keeping this in mind, if your company doesn’t want to splurge on your case, they will try to cut some costs by not providing the whole treatment or taking some things out of duty inclined towards an injured employee.

For this reason, the smart thing to do will be contacting your family doctor who isn’t involved in the case and can give you their honest opinion. They can help you with a full checkup so that all your tests can be supplied to the insurance company. This report can help you get better compensation for the injuries.

Missing the Timeline of Reporting

Another mistake that can hurt a lot when reporting your injuries to your employer is getting the information back that you are no longer eligible for it. There is a set time for reporting various kinds of crime or injustice done to you in the workplace. These limitations for reporting an accident maybe months or year-long, and once you miss them, you can no longer sue the other party. So make sure to take care of the timeline for your case to be processed in court to get compensation. Validate to file this case in the court properly and then make your claim in time.

Not Accessing a Lawyer When Needed

When all is in vain, and your employer isn’t supporting your injuries the right way, you will have to tackle the fight all alone for your rights. You will have to file and develop the case on your own. Not only that, but you will also have to prepare and present yourself in the court with substantial evidence. All this may sound doable by just reading about it but is challenging without a lawyer as your case easily develops flaws. A lawyer is the body of the law who knows and finds the best route to help their clients pursue compensation in a lawsuit. In this case, you will need to hire an attorney that specializes in getting employees’ rights after a work injury case. Make sure to hire a reliable Long Beach workers comp attorney after thorough research and references and authentic resources from the internet.

Leaving Out Prior Health Issues

It’s possible that you already had some undermining health issues that elevated when you worked under your firm. Having these does not mean that you can’t ask for a worker’s comp or hide it from your attorney. No matter how bad your condition was before joining your company, work should not have implemented made it worse. In this manner, you will also need to enlighten your lawyer on this so that when an insurance company tries to dig deep and find dirt on you, your lawyer has already prepared to back you up.

Not Obeying Doctor’s Orders

Being arrogant and unsubmissive while handling your case can work against you as the opponent can take advantage of such actions. In order to help your case go smoothly, you must also obey all your doctor’s orders and get all the screenings done. This is important to thoroughly meet your treatment and get healed to start working again. It is also important to keep up with the orders to not provide the insurance company with areas to poke into for terminating or reducing your compensation.

Giving a Recorded Statement

There is a lot that can go wrong when filing a personal injury lawsuit against your firm. Although many things are inevitable for a first-timer, several can be avoided not to make things worse. One of them is disclosing information to uninvolved or opposing parties. Giving a recorded statement to anyone besides your attorney is a bad move for your claim as it can be used against you by twisting and turning words or picking out less pondered sentences from you.

Not Getting Compensation of No Work

Injuries from a workplace can be in different degrees for different people. While someone can get a cracked bone from falling from slippery or uneven surfaces, others can be fated with constant disease or impairment from an encumbered work. So, once you accumulate some injuries, you will be unable to work for some time, which can depend on the intensity of the injuries.

Depending on the injuries, your company will have to compensate for the damages and also the loss of time. They will also have to offer you with a more favorable job depending on your condition. If they fail to do these, make sure to ask for the reimbursement for your work loss, and take legal actions if arrangements aren’t made.

Settling With an Unfulfilled Claim

In a case where you have been wronged enough to make you get physically hurt and lose your job, receiving inadequate compensation can only mount the damage. When you settle for an unfulfilled claim for your worker’s comp case, you are doing injustice to yourself. But this mistake can happen when things become confusing or burdening, and you are forced to settle for a lot lesser than you had in mind. Still, this mistake can be taken care of by filing another claim for revision of the compensation. This matter can be handled in court as the opposition party is called back and made to provide you a better cost for your injuries at work.

Returning to Work Too Soon

It’ll be a given from your employer’s side that they call you over for returning to work as soon as they see some healing in your injuries. However, going back to work will be a massive mistake on your part, no matter how good of an offer they provide or how nicely they ask. This can not only be bad for your reputation and claim of severe injuries. Also, going back sooner than your wounds heal can become the cause of your workers’ comp benefits to be taken away and health not healing properly. You could end up with severe injuries again if you decide to go back to work and not care about them.