The Importance Of The Accident Report For Your Workers Comp Claim
If you have been injured on the job, you are very likely covered by the workers compensation insurance that your employer pays for. Your claim relies on you filing the accident report in a timely manner, so read on for more information about the accident report and how it can affect your claim.
Before you fill out the report, make sure that you have reported the accident to your supervisor. This can be done verbally or in writing, but in most cases must be done very soon after the accident. If you fail to report the accident in time, you could lose your ability to get medical care or be paid for your lost wages as a result of the accident.
The accident report can be obtained from your employer and will contain the details of your accident such as when and where it occurred and what injuries you have sustained. If you cannot access a claim form from your employer, you may be able to get the form from your state's workers compensation board website. Use special care filling out this report, using complete name and contact information for all witnesses. Be as thorough as you can about your injuries, using medical reports and complete descriptions of every affected body part.
You will need to be extremely organized with your paperwork during the claims process. An expandable cardboard file case will come in handy for your copies of the report, your own notes about the accident, your medical receipts and records of treatments and evaluation, etc. When in doubt, keep it in your file.
Once you have filled out the accident report, your employer will file the claim with the workers compensation insurance company as well as the state board for workers compensation. If your claim is approved you could be eligible for:
- Weekly compensation
- Payment of medical care.
- Vocational rehabilitation if you are no longer able to work in your same job.
- Payment for permanent impairment if you can no longer work at any job as a result of your injuries.
You may notice that workers compensation is not responsible for paying you for pain and suffering. The only way to receive pain and suffering payments is by filing a personal injury suit against your employer. Make very sure before you sign the workers compensation settlement agreement that you will be satisfied with the compensation because you will be agreeing to not file suit by accepting it.
If you are not certain that you are going to be fairly compensated for your workplace injury from your employer's workers compensation insurance, you should contact a workers compensation attorney (such as one found through http://www.nccompspecialist.com/) as soon as possible for advice on your case.
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