What if my employer refuses to report my workers’ compensation injury?
“Hey man, don’t report this injury, just put it on your own insurance, workers’ comp is just going to deny it anyways…”
Unfortunately, we see it too often (particularly in the construction industry) where a safety manager or manager tells an injured worker NOT to report an injury because it will mess up their safety bonus or that workers comp will deny the claim anyways. Don’t listen to them! They are breaking the law!
Employers are REQUIRED to report any injury to the labor commission other than injuries that require “only first aid treatment”, or they are committing workers’ compensation fraud?
So why, would you ask, would an employer not want to file a claim? Because at the end of the day, employers pay premiums on insurance just like you and I do on auto, home or life insurance. Just like auto or home insurance, the more claims you file, the more premiums can increase. Employers want to keep claims down and premiums down by not reporting injuries.
We have had a few sad phone calls over the years where an employee was “suckered” into not filing a workers compensation claim on time and then was “time barred” or prevented from ever filing the claim because they waited beyond the 180 day window for reporting. And of course, the safety manager conveniently “forgot” about the injury conversation.
If your employer is refusing to file your workers compensation claim…call us today!
See our other blog post on How to report an injury here:
