A lot of folks may be wondering, you know, look, I’ve been with my employer for twenty years.  I’ve been loyal to them, and they’ve treated me right.  I don’t want to make an injury claim.  I don’t want to rock the boat, et cetera.  

I would not suggest that you continue to take that attitude.  Why is this?  This is very difficult for some people to understand.  If you do not enforce your rights under the Workers’ Compensation Act, I have seen it time and time again, the employer typically will deny – if you wait to report your injury, let’s say, your employer is going to deny that you were hurt on the job.  I’ve seen them do that.  Or they’re going to say that your injury is not connected to the accident, because you waited a long time to get the treatment that you really need.  

So if you fail to enforce your rights, what’s going to happen?  What’s probably going to happen is you know, two or three months down the road, when you’re really, really still hurting from the injury that you should have gotten treated for, what’s going to happen is they’re going to fire you anyway.  And so now not only do you not have a job, but you’re not getting your Workers’ Compensation benefits.  

So if you’ve been injured and you think you know, you’re hurting, you need to enforce your rights under the Act, and you need to make a claim for your injuries under the Workers’ Compensation Act so at least you’ve got those rights enforced.  

More often than not, I’ve seen that you know, most of the time these things work out.  The employer understands that the employee is making a claim.  The employer understands that this is what’s necessary, and they carry a Workers’ Compensation policy that’s in place for this purpose.  So if you have any questions or wondering about whether you’re going to lose your job, or something like this, or have concerns about that, please give us a call, email us, and we’ll be happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have.