Workers Comp Doesn’t Mean Suing Your Employer
Brian O Sutter
Workers’ Compensation
For a lot of Americans, the idea of going to court for a lawsuit usually conjures up stories of two heated enemies, going into the legal equivalent of an ugly, knock-down, drag-out fight. In some instances, unfortunately, this is true. A person injured at an amusement park, for example, going after the company that manages the amusement park is in for a fight. Even private individuals that go to court for injuries in a car accident can get very hostile as people attempt to prove or deny an injury and the party responsible for it. This is why in cases of workers compensation if the claim is denied, some people may be very reluctant to take the case to court, especially if they have a good working relationship with their company. There’s a worry about what happens if they take their company to court, and how that could affect their career within that company.
It’s Not About Your Company
The important to thing to understand about workers compensation is that this is something that is provided through the company you work for, but it is not by your company. Workers comp is financial compensation while you are recovering from an injury, but it is not pulled directly from the company’s finances. Instead, any workers comp that someone receives is being sent by the insurance carrier that your company chooses to partner with.
In the event that a workers comp claim is denied, and no financial support is forthcoming, your dispute, should it go to court, is going to be with the insurance company, not the business you actually work for. It will be the insurance company that presents an attorney to defend against the case, the insurance company that will be presenting arguments and investigations, and, ultimately, the insurance company that pays, should your claim be recognized in court.
Reasons Vary
There can be many different reasons—some ethical, some not—for why an insurance carrier would choose to deny a claim for workers comp. In some instances, the management of your company may decide on their own to deny a claim. In others, however, it may be the insurance carriers themselves that look at the costs for a claim, and decide that they don’t want to shoulder the burden.
In the instance that you put in a claim and receive notice that your claim is denied, you should always first talk to your company, and talk to the insurance carriers as well. Get all the information you need, including why the insurance company is not honoring the claim.
Once you have that information, you should seek out the advice of an experienced, legal professional, like a workers comp lawyer with experience in situations like facing a workers’ comp board and providinargumentar-gument and representation. Then you should concentrate on doing everything you can to work together and provide the evidence needed to get the claim reconsidered and honored. Don’t worry about your company, it is actually illegal for them to punish you for filing a workers comp claim.