Being an employee, your well-being and safety are covered under pertinent laws that hold employers accountable for doing less in terms of nurturing a healthy and accident-free work environment.
Still, no matter how safe a workplace may be, anything bad can happen, either through sheer circumstance or outright disregard for basic safety protocols. Either way, getting injured on the job could lead to not just physical hardship but also financial uncertainty.
Severe accidents may cause employees to miss work days, which could translate to lost income. Other than that, they also face the overwhelming reality of having to pay for medication and hospital stays out of pocket.
Thankfully, worker’s compensation laws have worked in favor of employees who were injured while fulfilling their duties. Then again, there’s still the question of how much they are entitled to receive. If you want to make sure you get a worker’s comp amount that’s just, here’s a guide on what to do:
1. Understand your rights as an injured
Even before getting injured, you should have a clear understanding of your rights as an employee and the responsibilities your employer assumes in terms of ensuring your safety. For the most part, you’re entitled to medical benefits and compensation for lost wages, which are basic under national worker’s comp laws.
Then again, the details could vary from one state to another. In Florida, where mandatory coverage is applied, employees are not allowed to sue their employers for negligence, owing to the state’s no-fault system. Understanding these key features and differences will help you make the right decisions that will ensure a fair payout in the end.
2. Deal with the injury immediately
Office spaces may not be as risky compared to construction sites, but it’s well within your right as an employee in any industry to report accidents and injuries as soon as possible. Even if you incurred a minor gash on your forearm or went through a slip-and-fall situation, you need to let your employer know right away that you were injured.
Choosing to talk about it at a later date will only reduce the quality of your case. Your employer and their worker’s comp insurer may attribute the injury to an incident that happened outside company premises, so it’s always a good idea to seek treatment and report the incident immediately while your wounds are still fresh.
3. Gather enough proof
Your total payout is dependent on the extent of your injuries as reflected in the cost of treatment. However, this will still rely largely on the amount of evidence you present to the management and the findings observed by your employer’s insurance company. A case manager is assigned to handle your claim and will rummage through the evidence to see if it all holds up.
Aside from presenting your medical records, you will also need to show just how the injury has impacted your ability to keep working. For this reason, you need to stay in constant communication with your physician and provide documentary proof that the accident did more than leave you wounded and bruised.
4. Work with a worker’s comp attorney
Consider yourself fortunate if your employer and their insurer approve a compensation package that should help you in the long run. However, be prepared if they ever dispute your claim or at least try to get you to make statements that justify a lower payout.
If this happens, your best recourse is to get legal help throughout the process. If your employer in Florida refuses to acknowledge your injuries and insists on a hardly fair settlement offer, consider reaching out to a Miami work injury lawyer to help you overcome a denial and recover the amount you deserve.
Your role as an employee, however minor, is critical to the company you work in. You have a right to safety as well as just compensation following an injury. It’s only a matter of increasing the amount using the tips above.
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