When you are injured on the job, the impact can be devastating. You may be dealing with a serious injury, pain and frustration with your recovery at the same time as feeling the effects of losing your wages, receiving medical bills and trying to handle your normal expenses.
The thing to remember is that most people are able to seek workers’ compensation if they are hurt on the job. Workers’ compensation insurance is there to make sure that workers who are injured have their medical care covered. It also helps replace a portion of your lost wages and may provide other benefits, such as vocational rehabilitation or retraining benefits.
How do you know if you qualify for workers’ compensation?
If you’re not sure if you have a case, first look at how you were injured. By law in Minnesota, your employer must provide workers’ compensation coverage. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they always have to pay, though.
The only time when an employer has to pay is when you have been hurt at work and are not at fault. So, if you were to get hurt at work intentionally or due to intoxication, your claim could be rejected.
Workers’ compensation typically won’t cover injuries that happen off the clock, either. For example, if you are walking out to meet a customer a fall down the stairs during your shift, your injuries should be covered. If you are walking out to your vehicle after you’ve clocked out, you may not have your claim accepted. The difference is that in one of those scenarios, you were doing work when you got hurt.
What do you need to do to start your claim?
To remain eligible and to make your claim, you should start by informing your employer of your injuries as soon as possible. Your employer needs to submit a First Report of Injury, Illness and Incident Data Form within 24 hours of the incident. You will also need to submit an employee statement regarding injury/illness. You technically have up to 180 days to report your injury, but delaying this could hurt your claim.
