What Problems You Can Run Into When Filing A Workers' Compensation Claim

Anybody injured on the job has the right to use workers' compensation to get back the money they lost as a result of their injury. However, many injured employees run into problems during the process that cause claims to be denied or to receive less than they deserve. Here are a few examples of some of the problems.

Problems Proving The Injury Is Related To Work 

The first potential issue that can come up is proving that the injury suffered is related to your job. It's possible that your employer is going to claim that you had the injury before you came to work, and are faking a workplace injury so that workers' compensation will pay for it. Having witnesses that see the accident, as well as documentation from a doctor about the extent of the injury, are all going to help prove your case is real and happened on the job.

Problems Navigating The Claims Process

Think that you can handle the whole claims process on your own? One problem that you may run into is being in over your head when it comes to what you need to do to actually file a workers' compensation claim. You could end up missing deadlines, not filling out forms correctly, or making mistakes that cause your claim to be denied. Thankfully, you can always hire a workers' compensation lawyer to help handle it all for you. 

Problems With The Insurance Provider Wanting To Settle For Less

There may be a point in your workers' compensation claim process where the insurance provider wants to settle your case, meaning that they are going to write you a check and both sides will be done with the whole matter. However, this means that you need to come to an agreement about how much you want to settle the case for. If the insurance provider doesn't want to provide you with the compensation you feel you deserve, negotiations on a settlement can stall or you'll end up accepting less than what you want.

Problems With Employer Retaliation

Sometimes the problem is not with the workers' compensation process, but with your employer making your life miserable. If they do not want you to use workers' compensation because they are worried about their insurance rates going up, your employer may threaten to retaliate against you as a result of using workers' compensation. You'll definitely want the help of a lawyer in this situation because retaliation is something that is illegal to do.  

For more information, contact a local work injury lawyer.