Reasons Why Your Workers Comp Claim Might Have Been Denied
Posted on: 29 April 2016
If you were recently injured at work, then a workers comp claim is a very useful tool. However, if your claim was denied, then you might be confused about exactly why that happened. Thankfully, by correcting your claim, you can dispute the denial and resubmit your claim. To help you get a better idea of what went wrong the first time around, here are four common reasons why workers comp claims are denied:
Lack of Corroborating Witnesses
Firstly, your injury might not have had any corroborating witnesses. If nobody else saw your injury, then your chances of winning a claim will take a pretty big hit. Unfortunately, if there really were no witnesses to your injury and nobody actually saw your injury before you received medical attention, then there isn't really anything that you can do. You'll just need to hope that the rest of your evidence is sufficiently strong for your resubmission.
That being said, you should still try to find any individuals that would have seen your injury. Even if they didn't see the actual accident, they can still testify that you were injured at work.
Failure to Report Your Injury in a Timely Manner
Secondly, you might have failed to report your injury as soon as it happened. In most cases, this would be pretty difficult to overcome, but if you can prove that your employer prevented you from officially reporting the accident and receiving medical attention, then you could still have a good shot at winning your claim.
Incorrect/Incomplete Medical Documentation
If you are lacking the necessary documentation, then your claim will be very difficult to prove. In some cases, finding the right documents might be as simple as pouring through your evidence and resubmitting your claim. Of course, that is only possible if you have the proper documentation and simply failed to submit it the first time around.
If there is no evidence for parts of your claim, either with the medical staff that treated you or your employer, then the burden may lie with one of them instead. If either party was aware of your injury and failed to fulfill their duties in filling out the proper paperwork, then you may be able to sue them instead of actually pursuing a workers comp claim. Thankfully, such lawsuits can potentially pay out more than a workers comp claim, so you aren't necessarily limiting yourself by dropping the idea of a workers comp payout.
To learn more, contact a law firm like Gilbert, Blaszcyk & Milburn LLP.
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