Mistakes in Toledo Workers’ Compensation Cases

Mistakes in Toledo workers’ compensation cases can occur when employees do not act on their injuries. Employees can be afraid of being fired, losing a promotion, or losing overtime. The fear of keeping his or her job is a big problem in the correct reporting of workers’ compensation claims.

An injured employee and their established workers’ compensation attorney need to credibly show that the injury happened at work by immediately reporting the claim and documenting consistent medical treatment. Not doing either of these things allows the employer to argue that the injury is either a pre-existing condition or it happened on non-work time.

Commonly Made Mistakes in Toledo Workers’ Compensation Cases

Initially, a person needs to fill out the actual form to apply for workers’ compensation. A person has two years from the date of the injury to file a claim. Employees should notify their employer of the injury immediately by filing the claim as soon as possible.

A person needs to make sure that the doctors that treatment are approved by the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and will accept payment under workers’ compensation. It can also be critical for injured parties to speak with doctors who understand the workers’ compensation process and are willing to fill out the correct paperwork. In order to get paid while missing work there are specific medical forms that have to be filled out by the Bureau approved employer.

The individual also must prove that the injury was proximately caused by the accident and the injury has to be approved by the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Finally, he or she has to convince the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation that the time period that the worker is off work is legitimate under Ohio law.

How are Errors Made in Employee Benefit Claims?

Mistakes are mostly made simply because the injured worker does not understand the workers’ compensation process. It is also common that the employer will do virtually nothing to inform the worker of how to navigate the workers’ compensation process. Another reason is that the process is very difficult, cumbersome, and hard to understand for anyone who doesn’t deal with the workers’ compensation process on a regular basis.

Risk of Not Filing for Compensation

Attorneys often find that the employee does not notify the employer of their claim and believes it will simply go away. This results in the individual not receiving the immediate treatment that they need and leads to many potential problems. Handling an injury situation in this manner will destroy a person’s potential claim.

Avoiding Mistakes in Toledo workers’ compensation cases begins with alerting an employer immediately and getting the immediate medical attention that is consistent and logical. Normally, the argument of the employer is if somebody is really injured they will notify the employer and receive consistent treatment. The individual’s actions should tell a consistent story of how the injury occurred.

How an Attorney Can Help

Workers compensation lawyers have an established process for handling workers’ compensation claims. When an attorney meets the injured party, they often try to get all the information about their current injury, current employment, past injuries, and their past employment.

An attorney could order any pre-existing records that may be relevant to the process because the employer may try to argue that the injury is not from the current work injury and had existed prior. They may also give the individual a copy of the Ohio Workers’ Injury book for them to go over for a better understanding of the process.

Ohio workers’ compensation claims are processed online so an attorney could try to establish a password with the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation system so that the employee can monitor their own case on a regular basis. Contact an attorney for more sources that can help you avoid making common mistakes in Toledo workers’ compensation cases.