Important Tips to Help With Your Workers' Compensation Claim

Finding a lawyer to represent you in court may seem like a straightforward thing – until you realise that there are so many different types of lawyers, each specialising in solving specific types of legal problems for their clients. If you have suffered a serious injury on the job, or perhaps have had to bear the pain of losing a close relative as a result of a workplace-related accident or occupational illness, a workers' compensation lawyer can help you decipher the issues at hand, such as the magnitude of your injury, the extent of the employer's liability and how much compensation you should receive. How you act prior to hiring a lawyer to help you with your workers' compensation claim can have a big impact on the outcome of the case. 

If you want to boost your chances of getting compensated for an injury sustained at the workplace, here are a couple of things you can do to help with your case.

Inform your immediate work supervisor about the injury

If you get injured at the workplace, workers' compensation laws stipulate that you should report the issue to your employer or immediate boss within a certain timeframe. If this period passes, some workers' compensation insurers might use that as an excuse for not paying your claim. While failure to inform your employer or their representative about your injury in good time may not legally prevent you from filing a workers' compensation claim, it can slow down your claim process unnecessarily.

Get medical help as soon as you can

Unless you see a doctor or physician post-haste, you might never learn about the severity of the injuries you sustained at the workplace until it is too late. If you get hurt while on the job, inform your employer about it and ask for permission to see a doctor. Your employer may recommend that you visit their doctor, but it is always a wise move to make an appointment to visit your own doctor – there's nothing wrong with getting a second opinion about the nature and extent of your injury.

If it's an emergency case, don't wait. Demand to be taken to the nearest health care facility immediately. Most workers' compensation insurers generally take it that you weren't really hurt if you did not see the need to get medical care immediately.

Bear in mind that workers' compensation laws may differ by state, and each workplace-related injury is different from the other. For advice customised to your specific circumstances, consult a qualified workers' compensation lawyer as soon as possible – early probing may be the all-important factor that determines whether you win or lose the case.