If you’re a younger employee, or you’re someone who has worked for yourself for most of you’re life, you may not be aware that your employer is responsible for maintaining Workers Comp MN insurance for each of their employees. In your training, you probably heard – repeatedly – that if you’re injured on the job, you need to report that injury immediately, but you may not actually know why.
One of the first things that you need to understand about your rights under workers comp is that if you don’t report the injury, then your company can’t pay for it. What’s more, there are laws in place that protect your employers from long-term backlash over employee injuries. What this means is that you must file your claim in a specified period of time. In Minnesota, you have 30 days by law. There are some exceptions to this – for example, if an injury doesn’t present until well after the accident – but it can be tied to the accident, but typically, you need to get the report filed immediately.
Another thing that you need to be aware of are your rights to work, or not to work. You will have to follow doctor’s orders when it comes to your care, and this could mean not being able to work or working on light duty. If your company has a position open the meets your doctor’s criteria, you must do the job – you can’t sit at home and collect your pay. If the company doesn’t have any work for you, and they can’t create some for you, then they have to pay you while you recover. In addition, you companies Workers Comp MN insurance is also responsible for paying your medical bills.
Unfortunately, there are some situations where an insurance company refuses to pay a claim. This doesn’t happen all of the time, but it does happen frequently enough that there are lawyers dedicated to helping people with their workers comp claims.
If you’re being turned down for the benefits that you deserve, or you feel that you’re entitled to more than you’re getting, you should speak with a lawyer.
