Moving Through Your Personal Injury Journey

Were you injured while performing the responsibilities associated with your job, and now you're not quite sure what to do? This is actually a situation where you should not pay for your injury on your own and should instead use workers' compensation. You likely have the following questions about using workers' compensation before you move forward.

Is There A Time Limit To Report The Injury?

Be aware that every state has its own laws regarding workers' compensation, and the first thing you need to be aware of is your timeline to report an injury to your employer. Even if your employer was aware of the injury when it happened, you may need to formally report the injury within the time limit. This is typically around 30 days from when the accident happened to simply make the report. 

What Qualifies As A Workplace Injury?

Many people are confused about what qualifies as a workplace injury and would qualify for workers' compensation. It usually means that you were injured while performing responsibilities related to your job, either on or off-site. For example, if you were injured in a car accident while traveling to a work-related meeting, this is actually considered a work-related injury. The only real exception to this is if you were injured while commuting to or from your job outside the normal workday hours. 

What If The Accident Was Your Fault?

Your employer may try to say that you cannot use workers' compensation for your injury because they feel that the injury was your fault. However, that's likely not the case. Workers' compensation insurance works on the premise that nobody is at fault for causing the injury. For example, there is no difference between you falling off a ladder due to your own clumsiness or a ladder failing and causing you to take a fall to the ground. As long as you were on the job and did not intentionally cause the injury, you can use workers' compensation.

What Happens With Lost Wages?

The medical bills are only one part of your losses when you are injured at work. You will likely have lost wages as well for the time that you were unable to work due to recovering from your injury. Know that it is possible to recover lost wages, which will be a percentage of what you would normally make on those days where you were unable to work.

A workers' compensation lawyer can help you get the compensation you need after a work-related injury.