Worker’s Comp in MN- Boss being sneaky?
Question by Asylum: Worker’s Comp in MN- Boss being sneaky?
I injured my back a month ago when I was helping a propane customer get a tank into her vehicle. Everyone at my workplace lifts tanks for the customers as the customers expect you to. Sometimes they place the tank at the end of the car and expect you to carry it across the parking lot and back. Either way, my doctor believes me to have either a big disk or a ruptured disk that is constantly touching one or more of the nerves in my spine. I’m in a lot of pain. Even as I write this the random shots of miserable pain and the feeling of my lower spine crushing itself plague me. I am on no painkillers because I am waiting for my workplaces insurance to approve my MRI. I cannot stand, sit, walk or lay down without constant horrible pain. It has been a straight month.
My boss was very angry that I had to see a doctor and he is the reason I didn’t see one sooner. I didn’t see any of my management until a few days after it happened and then they made me fill out a first report of injury, which was not an actual form but a checklist with no room to write in which my assistant manager told me to write on the back if I needed more room. This was 4 days after my original injury. They gave me no drug test, asked me if I saw a doctor and if I planned to and that was it. At this time I was nearly immoble, having to call in because I could barely get myself out of bed. After a few days, I went back to work. I work 32 hours a week, I’m a gas-station attendant who works all three shifts each and every week. Yes, I work first shift a few days, third shift a few days and a few days out of the week I work overnights as we are open 24 hours a day. There is only one person working on third shifts. I am a 23 year old female. I am also a good worker who has been employed here for a year and a half.
My question is this, I believe my boss is going to try and fight this claim (even though it’s no where near his money) because after my appointment I called him and very angerly he said, “You know that you’re not required to lift tanks and no one here expects you to right?” Now he wants me to come in and write a “statement” and “fill out some paperwork”. I understand if they need some sort of documentation, but I don’t want to put myself into a position by incriminating myself via “statement” and lose my comp benifiets. I’ve never filed for worker’s comp before and I’m not after the company or them paying my way. I just don’t want to feel like this anymore and I don’t have any money. Let alone enough for possible back surgery.
PLEASE HELP!
I went in to do the “paperwork” and he had written a new “First Report of Injury”. I’m willing to bet they didn’t file to the insurance company at all- let alone in a timely manner. I’ve had to be in even more pain even longer because of their lack of responsibility. Also, they have not said anything about benefits… only that I have 20.64 hours of sick time which I had to use due to the fact of I can’t afford this. What am I supposed to do? Time for a Lawyer? To the lawyers out there- any takers?
Best answer:
Answer by hr cubs girl
Whether he fights it or not the doctor is stating that is work related so its does not matter if he fights it. The only thing that is probably against you is the you did not report it right away.
What do you think? Answer below!
Generally this is the problem with some owners in business. Some owners encourage their employees to file a claim timely if they got hurt at work while others are just not very helpful. The reason they get mad is that it hurts their rates later and they may have to pay higher premiums.
In your case being a gas station attendant your expected to provide customer service. A customer expects you to tell them where the restrooms is, they expect you to assist them with propane refueling, they expect you to do what all customer service people do…service them.
It appears that your claim has already been reported to the workers compensation company. Has this claim been accepted?
If your claim is accepted than your benefits will be paid until something the adjuster see’s is being unfit or unrelated to the injury. This would be like a injury from another job. If your doctor places you off work due to the injury than you should be getting temporary total disability benefits (TTD) from the insurance company.
Your boss will do what it takes to fight this claim, of course however your boss can’t tell the insurance adjuster (Like me) what to do. If the medical reports indicate that your injury is a direct result from work and the independent medical exam doctor (IME) agrees what is the adjuster to do? Deny it? A smart adjuster will accept the claim and process your benefits and get you back to work as soon as they can. If they deny it and there is evidence that your boss demanded them to deny the claim w/o reason than they would be facing bad faith, which means you can sue 10 times more than normal.
As for the statement you can argue “where in the hand book that says I can’t help a customer?” I’m sure you didn’t use your legs when you lifted the propane tank but it’s your job to provide service to people. Most states are “no fault” states which means no matter how stupid the injury is, if the injury occurred at work and it benefits the company your covered.
If you’ve not been paid while your off work you need to find out from the insurance company why your not getting any TTD benefits. If you working only a portion of your 32 hours than you need to ask the insurance company why your not getting temporary partial disability (TPD).
Good luck
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You are within your rights to get an attorney. Sometimes an attorney will file the claim on your behalf. Your attorney might find some wrong doing on the company part and request penalties from the state for late filing of the claim. The insurance company (Which didn’t know of the injury due to non filing) will likely raise premiums or have the rest of their policy terminated due to non compliance.
If your doctor filed it you should check with them since your company obviously doesn’t want to do it for you. Also you can contact the workers compensation board and request what insurance is currently covering your company, they should have all that info so you can file the claim.
Remember, if you don’t file your claim, each day that passes is another red flag on you for not filing on time and it would look fishy to start with. But nevertheless it likely to be accepted if your company finally admits you where injured.