Hurt at work? Save yourself and report it!

Hurt at work?  Save yourself and report it!

Always report your injury to your management in writing if you are hurt at work.  Doing so, and doing it promptly, starts the ball rolling for your medical care to be paid and it helps you with certain protections you have under the law.

For example, it is against the law for your employer to terminate your employment, discriminate against you or retaliate in any way based on you having or pursuing a workers' compensation claim.  We all know that many employers will respect your rights and follow this law.  And unfortunately, we also know that many employers will not respect this law.  So if they do not respect the law and instead look for ways to give you a hard time, or outright terminate you, you want to be able to hold them accountable.

The problem is that if you have not put anything in writing to your employer about being hurt at work, then your employer can deny that anything they did to you flows from your work injury, and they will claim they simply did not know about the work injury.

So protect yourself and document it.  If you fill out a form at your Human Resources Department, keep a copy.  If you fax something, keep a copy of the confirmation sheet.  If you email, make sure to get a reply, so you can establish they received your email in the first place.  If you speak with them, follow it up with something in writing to confirm the conversation.

Remember that by documenting your injury, you are helping things move along with regard to the benefits you may be eligible for, and you are also establishing your employer's awareness of your injury which provides you with protections should your employer choose to retaliate against you.