WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I AM HURT AT WORK?
To
protect yourself, it is very important that you report your work injury to your
employer as soon as possible. Tell them you were injured at
work, naming every part of your body that is affected. Tell your
employer you plan to get appropriate medical care from a competent
physician or hospital. Insist that your employer report your work
injury to their workers' compensation insurance carrier. If your
employer for any reason refuses to do this or delays, I strongly
recommend that you call me to make sure this does not develop into a
serious problem for you or your claim. The call is free, and you may
not need an attorney at this point, other than for information as to
your rights and your employer’s
obligations.
From the time the
injury is reported, the insurance carrier then has twenty-one days to
accept or deny your claim or to otherwise respond formally under the
law. However, disability benefits in many cases may be started sooner,
and access to medical treatment for your work injury should be
immediate. If the insurance carrier has not provided a formal
response to your claim within twenty-one days of the report of injury,
such as by issuing a Notice of Compensation Payable or Notice of
Compensation Denial, this suggests that the employer or the insurance
carrier is violating the law. This is one of several ways in
which employers or insurers attempt
to protect themselves by abusing your rights. You
need to contact a competent
workers' compensation attorney immediately, to protect your rights.
Of
course, if your have suffered an injury in the course of your
work, or
suffered a disease caused in the course of your work, and yet your
claim is denied, you should contact me immediately.
I will
discuss with you how we can fight back to protect your rights under the
Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act.
In fact, even if your claim is accepted
as payable, but with an improperly limited description of your work
injury, or for purposes of medical only, I would again invite you to
contact me to discuss your legal rights. As but one example among many,
if you know you have a herniated disc in your low
back caused by a work injury, yet the insurance
carrier recognizes your injury only as a lumbar strain,
be assured that they have chosen this language to prejudice you and to
benefit themselves, even though they may be paying you benefits. You
need to discuss the exact description of your injury with a competent
attorney: Me. I won’t charge you for the call, and again, in this
situation you may not need to to immediately go into
litigation, but you need to know how the insurer’s use of an
artificially limited description of injury could very seriously affect
your rights, your medical recovery, and the manner and amount of any
lump sum workers’ compensation settlement.
Similarly, if your claim is accepted under what is known as a Notice of
Temporary Compensation Payable, your rights are
very much at risk, and we should talk. Call Tim Kennedy 610 924 5667 or 215 559 5003.