How Do I Know if I Have a Workers’ Compensation Claim?

In 2019 the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that 2.8 million workers’ compensation claims were filed. Out of those 2.8 million claims close to 900,000 of those claims were injuries that caused an employee to miss at least 1 day of work. 

If you have been injured on the job do you know what workers’ compensation is? Do you know what steps to make to filing a claim? Do you know the benefits that you are owed when you are injured? 

What Is Workers’ Compensation?

Workers’ Compensation is an insurance policy that businesses hold to cover themselves and their employees in case of a workplace injury or illness. 

In the state of California it is required for every business that has at least one employee to have workers’ compensation insurance. 

This insurance is a cost incurred by the business as part of the cost of doing business and the employees are not to pay into it like they pay health, dental and life insurance. 

I Got Hurt On The Job. What Happens Now?

If you were injured on the job the first thing to do in the case of a workplace injury is to seek medical treatment. Let the treating physician know that you’ve sustained this injury at work so that they can document it in your medical chart. 

After you’ve gotten medical treatment for your injury there are 2 main steps you’ll be taking during the process. 

The First Step

Inform your employer

As soon as you are able to do so it is crucial to report your injury to your employer. This effectively starts the clock on the claims process. If you don’t report your injury within 30 days you might lose the benefits you’re entitled to. 

It doesn’t matter if it is a scratch or catastrophic injury- report it.

The Second Step

File your claim

Within one business day of you informing your employer you should receive information and paperwork on how to file a workers’ compensation claim. This form is called DWC-1 and can also be found here on the California Workers’ Compensation website. 

After you fill out the paperwork, your employer will fill out the remaining and then send it into the insurance company. The insurance company has 90 days to accept or deny the claim. While the claim is being reviewed and investigated they automatically authorize the employer up to 10,000 dollars to be spent to cover any medical bills. This ensures that you aren’t paying anything out-of-pocket while the claim is pending. 

Why You Should Hire An Attorney

Filing a workers’ compensation claim in California can become difficult if you’ve suffered an injury that requires you to be off work for any amount of time.

When you have an ongoing medical need you are going to have ongoing medical costs. You will be off work and need to have money coming in as well.  Workers’ compensation benefits give all that to you when you qualify. 

If you have had issues with insurance denying your claim, your workplace denying your injury happened at work, your workplace retaliating against you or firing you, or you aren’t granted enough money to cover the medical costs and other bills, it’s time to hire an attorney.

Note: It is illegal to be fired from a job for a workplace injury if it was founded to be an accident and not purposely started. Some companies will fire employees because they are not able to return to their job for several months. 

The attorney will cut through the red tape of the claims and get down to the issue at hand which is your needs. You need to focus on rehabilitation and healing, not mountains of paperwork, phone calls and emails back and forth to your employer and the insurance company. Let the experts do what they do best. 

They will gather all the information and paperwork needed to file the claim and get the results you are looking for and the benefits you deserve. 

You don’t have to do it by yourself, there are people here to help. 

 

Work With An Expert Attorney 

At Montero Law, we represent workers in Southern California who have been injured on the job and are now looking to file a claim, in the process of filing a claim, or have been denied their claim and looking to appeal. 

If you are in need of assistance with your workers’ comp claim, call us today to set up a free consultation; we look forward to working with you.