Getting What Is Rightfully Yours

Even If Your Employer Loved You, Don't Be Surprised If They Fight Your Workers Compensation Claim

28 August 2015 by Penny Fisher

Many workplaces like to cultivate the idea that everyone who works there is part of one big happy family. However, when it comes to dealing with workers compensation claims, all that talk of being one big happy family can quickly fly out the window. Once you file a workers compensation claim, your employer may start to view you more as an enemy that they have to fight against instead of as a member of their family. Here are the top reasons that your employer may fight your workers compensation claim:

#1 – They Just Don't Believe You

Even if you felt like your employer trusted you and viewed you as a valuable member of the team when you were healthy, all that could go out the window when you file a worker's compensation claim.

Many employees tend to dismiss workers' compensation claims that are due to repetitive motions, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and lumbar back injuries, as untruthful claims. Unfortunately, there is an attitude that these types of injury claims are primarily filed in order for individuals to increase their pocketbooks. Even if your employer is aware of your work conditions and knows that the action you do could lead to repetitive strain injury, they may still doubt your claim.

Additionally, many employers seem to doubt claims that are hard to qualify. For example, if your injury is also causing a high amount of pain, and that pain is making it impossible for you to work, don't be surprised if your employer doesn't buy it. It is common for employers to doubt the pain you may be in when they can't measure it or see if for themselves.

#2 – They Don't Want To Raise Their Costs

Ask much as your employer may have liked and enjoyed having you as an employee, generally their main priority is to protect their business. If they pay out on too many workers compensation claims, or if they have to play an extremely expensive claim, it could hurt their bottom line.

It often has nothing to do with you as a person or how they viewed you as part of their team and work family; it more often than not comes down to money. Your employer has to think about what they can afford to pay now and in the future when they address you claim. If it looks like honoring your claim may hurt them financially now or down the road, they may deny your claim based primarily on that fact.

Keep in mind that your relationship with your employer, no matter how wonderful it was, may change once you file a workers compensation claim. If your employer tries to deny your claim based on either of the two reasons listed above, don't hesitate to enlist the help of a workers compensation attorney, like Neifert Byrne & Ozga, to help you fight for support that you deserve. 

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