Everyone has to work, but depending on the career you have chosen, some jobs may be more demanding or dangerous than others. Nevertheless, when you are injured at work, you may be able to be reimbursed for your expenses. Although this can be a difficult time to go through, you have options and experts available to facilitate the process.
Here are some tips to follow if you are ever injured while working:
- Have Your Injuries Taken Care of By A Medical Professional
First and foremost, you should always have injuries taken care of by a medical professional immediately. Your health and well-being are important and should be your top priority. Even if you think your injury is minor, you’ll never know for sure until you have it looked at. Make sure to get a copy of any work restrictions/out of work notes.
- Notify Your Employer of The Injury
As soon as you can, you should notify your employer that you were injured while working. Virginia requires that you notify your employer of an injury within 30 days. Written notification is preferred to prove it later. Your employer will more than likely have insurance to take care of these problems, so he or she will likely be understanding in this predicament.
- Be Specific in Reporting Your Injury
Give the date, location, time and exact thing you were doing when you first felt anything wrong. Providing as much detail as possible may help your case in the long run.
- Stay Off Social Media
Never post or discuss what happened following a work-related accident on social media. Even if you think an update regarding your injury seems innocent enough, a simple status update can easily be misconstrued against you. It is always best to limit your conversations on the topic to your attorney only for full confidentiality.
- Look for work
If your employer will not take you back with “light duty” restrictions, you must apply for 5 jobs a week to be eligible to get paid. Even if you have not yet been fired.
- Contact an Attorney
Last but most definitely not least, you should always contact an attorney after you are injured while working. There are a lot of ins and outs to a workers’ compensation claim. A qualified workers’ compensation attorney can review your claim and help you decide the best action for you and your injury.
Contact Us
If you were injured while working, our skilled attorneys at ReidGoodwin offer free initial consultations to help you. We believe that all our clients deserve the top care to receive monetary compensation for their work-related injuries. Call us today at (804) 415-7800 to see what we can do for you.