How to File a Worker’s Comp Claim Correctly

Video Transcript:

Hello. This is Mike Dryden from Willig, Williams & Davidson. I’m the head of the workers’ compensation department at our firm. I want to spend a couple of minutes with some workers’ compensation basics – things that every Pennsylvanian should know after a work injury. First, when you’re hurt on the job, you’re obligated to provide notice of the injury to your employer.

Now, that’s more than just going to your supervisor and saying your back hurts or your knee hurts, or you were diagnosed with cancer. It’s informing the supervisor that the back, the knee, or the cancer is something that you now have suffered because of your employment and that you want them to process a worker’s compensation claim for the injury or the illness.

Many places will have a form that you fill out. Under the law, you really just have to tell your supervisor. You have to be able to document that you advised your supervisor that you have a certain condition that you believe to be work-related. Once you provide notice, you’re then, into the worker’s compensation system where the employer has 21 days to respond to you.

Now you have up to 120 days from when you knew or should have known to provide notice to the employer of a work injury. We do not suggest that you delay. If you’re hurt and you believe it was work-related, you should immediately tell your employer you should notify them and you should document that you notified them. That is the best practice.

But sometimes the injury doesn’t reveal itself, or some employees want to see if they get better and they’ll delay a bit. We frequently, were contacted by employers who are told by or excuse me by employees who are told by their supervisors that you waited too long, that you waited two weeks, or you waited, you know, three weeks from when you should have told us.

And we’re not processing your claim. They do not have the right to do that. You have up to 120 days from when you knew, or should have known to timely notify your employer of a work injury. Once you do that, the employer has 21 days to let you know whether they’re accepting responsibility with either a notice of compensation payable, a temporary notice of compensation payable that allows them to withdraw their acceptance within 90 days, or they can deny the claim with a denial.

You’re supposed to get a copy of that piece of paper, either the notice of compensation payable, the notice of, temporary compensation payable, or the notice of denial within that 21 day period. If you don’t get that document, you should find someone at your human resources department or a supervisor and immediately complain to your employer that you have not received that piece of paper.

You have a statutory right to be told what your status is after you report a work injury. The employer is statutorily required to let you know where you stand after the work injury. If the claim is accepted and you receive a notice of compensation payable, read it carefully on that document. It will state the injury that you’re being.

That’s being accepted. If you fell and you injured your wrist, but you got pain in your back and it’s going down your leg, you want to make sure that the back pain and the leg pain are on there with the wrist injury. It will also state how much you’re going to be paid. You want to check that to see if that looks correct to you.

Based off everything that you’ve earned in the year prior to the work injury, with that employer, or even if you had a second job, the second job, or concurrent employment that counts towards your average weekly wage. You’ll read the notice of compensation payable carefully. If you get a temporary notice of compensation payable, simply put, I think you should have your hands up.

That means that somebody is evaluating your claim. Somebody is looking at whether or not, hey, we’re going to continue to accept this. If you get a denial, then you have to go. If you want to benefits if you want benefits for that injury, you have to go to court. You go in front of a worker’s compensation judge. I would never recommend to any employee anywhere that they do that without an attorney.

At our law firm, we have more than 100 years of experience in our worker’s compensation department, and we’d love to help you through this process. Well, I don’t know why. While I hope you do not get hurt if you do. We’re here to assist. Thank you.