When an employee gets injured on-the-job, the result can be a hectic and painful recovery process. Employees in Arkansas are entitled to compensation if their injuries are work-related.
Getting hurt on the job can affect your life in many ways:
- You may have to take time off of work while you recover,
- Incur medical debt, or
- Even change career paths if the injury leaves you partially or fully impaired.
Navigating your workers’ compensation claim alone can be difficult and leave you with less than you deserve.
Here are some things you should do after a work-related injury:
1) Report Your Injury to Your Supervisor
Regardless of how large or small the injury, you should report it immediately after the incident. Sometimes, injuries will get far worse with time, and it is important to have documentation of the incident that caused the injury. Tell your supervisor, in full detail, what happened. It could also be beneficial to tell a fellow coworker or another manager; the more witness you have, the easier it is to prove the origin of your injury.
2) Seek Medical Treatment Immediately
After you report the incident, your supervisor should make arrangements to help you seek medical treatment. However, things don’t always work out like this, and you must be diligent about seeing a medical professional to assess the damage. The longer you wait to see a doctor, the more difficult it is to attribute the injury to the work-related incident. You should tell your physician that you had an incident at work, be honest about your medical history, and inform him/her of all areas in which you have pain. Establish a clear medical record of your injuries, just in case your condition gets worse.
3) Contact a Jonesboro Workers' Comp Attorney
While some workers’ compensation cases can be settled between the employee and the employer without legal assistance, attorneys are often necessary to ensure that workers are being compensated to the full extend of what they deserve. If your job causes injury, aggravates a pre-existing condition, or increases the risk for harm, you are entitled to compensation. The attorneys at Wells & Wells have decades of experience in workers’ compensation cases and always put the client first.
Call our Jonesboro workers' compensation attorneys today!