When you are injured on the job, there are a few things your employer must do to help you file a workers’ compensation claim. Once the injury occurs, your employer has a limited amount of time to do the following things.
Allow You To Seek Medical Treatment
Once an employer learns about your injury, they should instruct you to seek immediate medical treatment. If the injury is serious, the employer is responsible for calling for emergency services to get the employee help. Following a work injury, it is against the law for the employer to require you to finish your shift before going to the hospital. If this happened to you, consider talking to a workers compensation attorney Jacksonville FL.
Give You Paperwork
In most states, your employer is required to give the injured worker information that discusses their rights following a work injury. The paperwork should inform how workers’ compensation benefits work and what steps the employee and employer are required to take to file the claim.
You’ll also have to fill out an incident report that the employer will submit to their insurance company and the workers’ compensation board in your state.
File the Claim Form
In most cases, your employer is the party required to file the workers’ compensation claim form. In some situations, the employee will be too injured to do so, which is why the responsibility often falls on the employer. The deadline for filing the form depends on the state you live in, but typically the employer has 10 days after being notified of your injury to file the paperwork.
Modify Your Work Hours
Injuries take time to heal, and an employer must be willing to modify your schedule if you’re ready to come back to work but cannot work full-time right away. An employer cannot fire you even if it takes several months until you can work a full shift.