If you are injured on the job in southern California, you probably qualify to receive workers’ compensation benefits, but you’ll want and need the legal advice and services of an experienced, Los Angeles-based California workers’ compensation lawyer. You’re entitled to benefits if you are injured on the job, but those benefits do not come automatically. With your lawyer’s help, you have to prove that your injury happened at work and was extensive enough to prevent you from working either temporarily or permanently. After a workplace injury, don’t risk your benefits by making one of these three mistakes:
1. Waiting to file a workers’ compensation claim: Don’t wrestle with the decision to file a claim or “tough it out” and assume that you can file later if your injury turns out to be more serious. The longer you wait to report an injury, the more difficult it may be to prove that your injury happened at work and that it is temporarily or permanently disabling. Time is not your friend. When you’re injured at work, file the claim as quickly as you can.
2. Failing to report to the doctor that your injury occurred at work: Telling your doctor that your injury is work-related – and explaining precisely how the injury happened – is imperative. An employer cannot fire or otherwise retaliate against you for filing a workers’ compensation claim.
3. Waiting to consult with a lawyer: Don’t. Make the call and put an experienced workers’ comp lawyer on the case immediately. Workers’ comp regulations in California are complex. Your lawyer can advise you, explain the law, and review your paperwork for accuracy and thoroughness. A good workers’ comp lawyer knows what it takes to win the benefits you need.
A workplace injury can threaten a lot more than your health, but workers’ compensation is designed to pay for your medical treatment and the related expenses that pile up fast when you can’t work. In the Los Angeles area, when you’re injured on the job, call an experienced California workers’ compensation lawyer at once.