By: Russell Keener  —  September 3, 2011
 

You have been injured at your work­place, and now you aren’t sure whether you should file a work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion claim.  You may feel embar­rassed, or won­der whether you can lose your job if you file a claim.   Every year injured work­ers fail to file a claim when they should.  Often this fail­ure to file will cost them income and nec­es­sary med­ical care.

Is your employer required to carry work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion insurance?

Employ­ers with three or more employ­ees are required to carry work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion insur­ance.  This insur­ance is designed to pro­tect employ­ees in the event of a work-related injury.  You may have sprained an ankle or suf­fered a repet­i­tive motion injury.  Either way, you are cov­ered by work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion.  In the­ory Geor­gia Work­ers’ comp is designed to keep both employ­ees and employ­ers out of a long, drawn-out litigation.

Tips for fil­ing a claim

Fil­ing for work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion can be a com­plex and con­fus­ing process.  It is impor­tant that you take action right away.  For exam­ple, notify your employer of an injury due to acci­dent imme­di­ately; while you thirty days to inform your employer of an on-the-job injury, in close cases, most judges want to see notice given much quicker than that.  If you fail to notify your employer within 30 days, your claim could be denied.

In order to ensure things go smoothly, know what is cov­ered.  Injuries that you sus­tained while not work­ing, engaged in horse­play, or due to the use of ille­gal or intox­i­cat­ing sub­stances are not covered.

See a doc­tor right away when you are injured at work.  Minor injuries often become more seri­ous.  In order to col­lect on your claim, a physi­cian will need to ver­ify your injuries.

If your claim is denied, you have the right to request a hear­ing before the Work­ers Com­pen­sa­tion Board.  When all else fails and you don’t know what else to do or where to turn, a Mari­etta work­ers’ comp attor­ney can offer you legal assis­tance and guid­ance so that you get the max­i­mum ben­e­fits you are enti­tled to.

When you are injured on the job, never take it upon your­self to take respon­si­bil­ity for the costs asso­ci­ated with your injuries.  Do not put a job injury on your health insur­ance.  Do not let the employer “pay the med­ical bills” and not file for work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion.  The pur­pose of work­ers com­pen­sa­tion insur­ance is to cover job related acci­dents.  Once you allow your treat­ment to be taken out of work­ers com­pen­sa­tion, it may become dif­fi­cult to get back into the work­ers com­pen­sa­tion sys­tem.  With work­ers com­pen­sa­tion cov­er­age you get a weekly pay check, all your med­ical bills paid with no copay or deductible, an impair­ment rat­ing pay­ment and even more.   If your injury is taken out­side of the work­ers com­pen­sa­tion sys­tem (by, say putting it on your health insur­ance) you may likely loose the very ben­e­fits you are enti­tled to.   Even though the work­ers com­pen­sa­tion process may be a headache, it’s worth the has­sle when you con­sider the expenses you may be fac­ing by not fil­ing.  Your best bet is to con­sult with an expe­ri­enced, hon­est and aggres­sive Geor­gia work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion lawyer.