What Happens If My Boss Says My Injury Is Not Work Related?

Sometimes pain sets in at work without the presence of an acute injury. There’s a chance that the injury occurred off the clock but you’re only feeling the effects now, but the more likely answer is that your work duties contributed to the pain. However, some employers are reluctant to follow through on a claim if there was no acute moment of injury, or worse, they flat out tell you that the injury is not work related. What should you do in this situation? We explain your options below.

Understanding Work Injuries

Workers’ compensation is designed to protect the worker from a wide variety of injuries. This means more than just acute trauma injuries are covered. For example, you can seek compensation for:

Degenerative conditions
Joint arthritis
Repetitive motion injuries
Gillette Injuries
Carpal tunnel injuries
Chronic regional pain syndrome
Respiratory conditions
Post-traumatic stress disorder

All of these injuries either take a number of years to develop, or in the case of PTSD, can develop as a result of witnessing something traumatic at work in lieu of experiencing physical trauma.

When Employers Disagree

Your boss and the company as a whole have their bottom line to worry about, so they don’t always have your best interests at heart. This can lead to a situation where they attempt to talk you out of filing or flat out tell you that your claim will be denied because of the absence of an acute moment of injury. However, it’s important to remember that it is not up to them to decide if your work claim is valid.

Once you have informed your employer of your injury, the next thing you should do is to contact a workers’ compensation attorney, especially if have or believe you will receive some pushback from your employer. You do not need to suffer an acute injury in order to build a successful case, but odds are you will need a lawyer because you need to successfully convey that your work duties contributed to your condition. Your lawyer will do this by asking a number of questions pertaining to:

Current work duties
Past work duties, including old jobs
Diagnosed medical condition
How long you’ve dealt with pain
What actions cause pain
How your condition is affecting your work duties
How your employer reacted/treated your concerns

St. Louis Park Work Comp Attorney

All of these questions and others help lay the framework for your case, but it takes a skilled workers’ compensation to put the pieces together and develop a strong claim that will be granted by the insurance company or an impartial judge. As we’ve said in other blogs, you can be missing out on a huge payday if try to build your case on your own and fail to win your case.

At the end of the day, remember that it is not up to your boss or your employer to decide if you have a valid injury claim. Inform them of the injury, and then make sure your next call is to a Minnesota workers’ compensation injury. If you’re running into push-back from an employer over your injury claim, contact Dean Margolis right away.