You might have been involved in an accident on the job, and you might have gotten injured, but that doesn’t mean that the workers’ compensation insurance company will agree to pay you for your injuries. In fact, the insurance company might try to fight your claim for the compensation you have a legal right to receive.
Here’s what insurance companies may try to claim in their attempts to avoid paying you compensation:
— You didn’t give timely notice: You have only a certain limited period within which you most notify your employer of your injuries. Failing to notify your employer in a timely fashion could result in a denial of your benefits claim.
— You didn’t timely file your claim: Time limitations also apply to filing your claim. You have to file within a particular time based on the date you notified your employer of your injuries. Failure to do so could also result in a denial of benefits.
— Your injuries were self-inflicted: Believe it or not, insurance companies sometimes try to claim that a worker injured him or herself on purpose, just to get insurance benefits. Also, if you got wounded in a fight, this might also classify as a self-inflicted injury. Injuries deemed to be self-inflicted are not compensable.
— The injuries were not linked to your employment: An insurance company might try to argue that your injuries didn’t happen in the course and scope of your employment.
These are just a few of the ways that an insurance company will try to get around the need to pay you workers’ compensation benefits. If you’ve encountered resistance like this, a workers’ compensation lawyer can help you assert your legal rights to compensation in court.
Source: FindLaw, “Common Workers’ Compensation Defenses,” accessed April 28, 2017