Being injured or falling ill are neither a great time, and a workplace injury is no different. The big difference between it and non-workplace injuries is that, depending on the circumstances of the injury or illness, you may be able to file for workers compensation. Workers compensation refers to a form of protection that is offered to employees.
In the event that a workplace injury or illness is caused on the job, you may be entitled to compensation as a result. However, you are not guaranteed to receive it, as other circumstances may exist that make it difficult to get your workers’ compensation claim accepted by your employer.
What kinds of incidents may qualify for workers’ compensation?
There are certain types of industries that put you at greater risk than others, to be certain. For example, you are a lot more likely to be injured while working on an oil rig than you are to be injured working at Walmart. Despite that, injuries and illnesses do not discriminate, and there is a risk factor at any job, be it a big one or a small one, especially if your employer is not particularly diligent when it comes to keeping your environments safe for their employees.
Slipping on a spill that was not adequately addressed, getting burnt as a result of faulty equipment, being expected to do something that is unreasonably dangerous for your job, these are just a few examples of different things that can make you qualify to receive workers’ compensation. However, workers’ compensation is not a guarantee.
Why might someone miss out on receiving workers’ compensation?
There are a number of reasons that a person may miss out on this, but some are more common than others. Perhaps the most common reason for a workers’ compensation denial is because the doctor they chose to gauge how you are doing determined that your injury or illness was either exaggerated or perhaps not even valid.
Employers obviously are not looking to pay out more for workers’ compensation than they need to, so in events such as these, they are virtually guaranteed to deny your request. Some of the reasons for denying an application is purely procedural; for instance, if you failed to submit your application in the right time frame as provided to you, you will not be able to file it later, unless it can be shown that your employer was intentionally preventing you from submitting.
Another procedural issue is that your employer requires you to see a doctor to verify that you were indeed injured or fell ill.
If you fail to attend this doctor appointment, getting your application approved is quite rare, if not virtually impossible. You also run the risk of being denied if it was found that you were at fault for your injuries or illnesses, or if the cause of either was outside of work or outside of their control. However, as one might expect, not all application denials are necessarily made in good faith.
In some cases, an employer may desire to deny one or more application that may otherwise be approved, with the intention of simply avoiding paying out.
What to do if you are denied?
Being denied is not a fun experience, but it is not the end of the world, as there is still an appeals process to attempt. The process may have some difficulties and eccentricities to take into account; for example, each state is going to have different things, big or small, that you will have to take into account when filing for an appeal.
In order to deal with these things, it is strongly advised that you work with an attorney who specializes in workers’ compensation cases, as they will make things go a lot more smoothly. Before you begin with the appeals process, it is effectively mandatory that you have a detailed understanding of exactly why your workers’ compensation application was denied in the first place.
Once you know this, you and your attorney will work together with this information to strengthen your case, ideally finding reason to have that decision overturned in the end. Depending on your state, the appeals process will either be handled by a review board or by a single judge. This appeal is the only time you will be able to submit evidence, so make sure that when you get to this point that you have as much and as strong evidence in your defense.
If this appeal fails, you will have another chance to appeal this verdict, though the only thing that will be considered at this stage is the first appeals process itself. By getting help from a workers’ comp lawyer, the likelihood that you will come out ahead is a lot higher.