Top Ten Workers Comp Best Practices in 2020
This list is helpful whether you have a work injury before or have not, whether you have a work injury lawyer or have not.
- Documentation
Go to a medical professional, ER/Urgent Care/Primary Care Physician/Minute Clinic. Tell the doctors/nurses everything that is bothering you. Workers comp is all about documentation.
- Report
Let employer know about your injury. Tell your boss/supervisor/manager/HR that you have been injured. Send them an email, send them a text. Insist they write an accident report.
- Avoid NO CALL, NO SHOW
If you miss work, call your employer/HR everyday that you will not be in to work. Be aware of the common 3 strikes you are out policy. That is most companies have a 3 No Calls/No Show policy whereby you are terminated if you violate the policy. This can have a significant impact if you are receiving/wish to receive comp.
Check your mail everyday. You will be getting very important letters from the BWC that may need to be appealed. If they are not appealed in time you may be screwed. If you move let the BWC, Industrial Commission, your attorney know your new address.
- Industrial Commission Hearings
If you receive a notice to attend a hearing, attend the hearing. Get to your hearing 30 minutes early. If your hearing is scheduled at 9AM it may be called anytime between 9AM and 9:40 AM. If your hearing is called at 9:00 AM and you arrive at 9:05 AM. It may be too late, most hearings are pretty quick. Depending on what IC you hearing is scheduled, their may be traffic. Again better to be early and bored waiting for your hearing, than late.
- Medical Bills
If you have a medical bill related to your claim, that bill must be submitted within a year of the date of service of the bill. So if you have a bill from January 10, 2019, it must be submitted by January 9, 2019.
- Wage Rate
Check your average weekly wage and full weekly wage. If you don’t know what these are, figure it out. Super important. If they seem low, they probably are low and need to be adjusted.
- ICON and BWC
Create an account on the Industrial Commission website ICON, and the BWC’s website. That way you can see all the correspondences and medical records, etc. related to your workers comp claim.
- Elevator Pitch
Be able to explain how you got injured at work in a clear, concise, and consistent way. Make an “elevator pitch” for your claim. This is particularly true of explaining your injury at a hearing. Hearing officers hear 100-1000’s of hearings every year. Also be consistent. Don’t come up with a different mechanism of injury at the hearing.
- Attorney
Get an attorney. Goes without saying this workers comp nonsense is unnecessarily complicated. You’ll save yourself time, money, and tears if you get a work injury lawyer. Malek & Malek are the best work injury lawyer in Ohio. We’ve represented 1000’s of clients, and recovered millions of dollars for those clients. Contact us today for a free consultation!