REPORTING YOUR WORK INJURY IS BASIC BUT CRITICAL

Employees are injured every day. Most are loyal, hard working people who want a pay check and have no interest in missing time from work. Sometimes people are injured, but fail to report their injury. These individuals may hope that the injury will heal quickly or they may be concerned that reporting an injury will result in retaliation by the employer. The fact is: failure to report your injury promptly to someone in authority can cause an insurance company to deny your workers' compensation benefits. The consequences of failing to report your injury become more serious if your injury happened at the end of the work day or week, or if no one was present to witness your injury. If failure to report the injury to your employer is coupled with an initial medical treatment history which does not include a history of the injury, it can take weeks or even months to convince an insurance company to reverse an initial denial of benefits. Employees tend to balance a timely report of injury with the fear that reporting an injury will harm their relationship with management. Making the right decision depends on the priorities and judgement of each individual. Discussion of the issues with an experienced disability attorney can be helpful. Even if you decide not reporting the injury is the best course for you--make no mistake, it could result in the denial of your workers' compensation claim. For more information concerning the Massachusetts Workers' Compensation Law and the Department of Industrial Accidents go to:
John Bena III Attorney at Law.com