California employers must provide safety training, safety equipment, and a safe workplace in order to protect employees from harm.
When employees get hurt, they can file Workers’ Compensation Claims and seek support in replacing their income and paying their medical bills.
Not every worker earns full support for their injuries. Injured victims must take the right steps to ensure they receive the proper amount of support for as long as needed.
The Day of a Workplace Accident
Right after the accident: Call for an ambulance if you are hurt. If you are strong enough and it’s safe to do so, get photos of the hazard that caused your accident. (e.g., debris on the floor, a malfunctioning machine). Get contact information from any witnesses. Alert a supervisor about what happened. Help them fill out an incident report. Get checked out fully by paramedics. Go to the ER if necessary.
Alert your employer immediately if possible.
The First Week After a Workplace Accident
Contact a California Workers’ Comp Attorney for a free case consultation: Get in touch with a skilled lawyer and go over the details of your case. If you think you can earn more with a lawyer’s help, you won’t need any upfront money to hire one. Your Maison Law attorney would receive no pay unless the case was won. Then the attorney’s fee comes out of a Workers’ Comp award.
Your Lawyer would begin an immediate investigation and secure difficult-to-obtain evidence from your employer, including internal documents and surveillance video. Workers’ Comp claims are generally no-fault, and you don’t need to prove your employer was negligent, but evidence can help if there’s a dispute over how an accident occurred.
Your lawyer also represents you to Workers’ Comp Insurance adjusters and California administrators to make sure they get the full story on your injury and know how long you could be out of work.
Fill Out a DWC-1 Form: Upon news of your accident, your employer must give you a DWC-1 form to fill out. You’ll complete the employee section and return it to allow your employer’s HR department to fill out the rest and submit it. You should make a copy of the form and keep checking to make sure it gets filed.
See Your Own Doctor: You may have gone to the ER, but in the days that follow, you should visit a family doctor. This may be a doctor that’s in your employer’s health insurance plan. Get all injuries examined and documented. Mention any new pains you’ve had in the days since your accident. New pain on the day after an accident can mean you have an injury that wasn’t found immediately. Follow your doctor’s orders on treatment, including going to see specialists.
In the Month that Follows a Workplace Accident
Make Sure Your Employer and HR Know About Your Injury: We’ve mentioned that you should alert the supervisor of your injury immediately. But the official deadline for alerting an employer of an accident is within one month. Fail to report your accident within that time, and you may not be able to file a Workers’ Comp claim. You should also make sure your supervisor filed the incident report and alerted the owners.
Initial Support: Once your claim has been submitted, your company’s Workers’ Comp insurance provider should provide you with temporary disability benefits within 14 days if you’ve had to miss work due to injury.
See: The Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) Workers’ Compensation Guide
Within the First Three Months After a Workplace Injury
Money to Cover Your Care While You Wait: While the insurer is reviewing your claim, they must extend up to $10,000 for medical care.
Continue to Seek Medical Care: Don’t stop going to physical therapy and allow your doctor to check your injuries regularly.
Waiting on Approval: The Workers’ Comp Insurance Provider will have 14 days to green light your claim, reject it, or call for a delay and get another 90 days to decide.
If your claim is approved, you will receive:
- Money to cover all approved medical care
- Twice-a-month paychecks replacing around 2/3 of the income you normally receive
- Permanent disability benefits. Support if you suffer a lasting injury that may prevent you from having a normal life or from going back to your job.
- Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit. Money to help victims train for a new job if they can’t return to their old job, or their employers don’t offer them a different position.
- Death Benefits. Payments to a spouse, children, or other dependents if a loved one dies from a job injury or illness.
When you have a Workers’ Comp attorney handling your claim, your representative helps negotiate for more in support and ensures it doesn’t run out before you’ve fully recovered.
If Your Claim is Denied: you have the right to file an appeal. Maison Law can help you file a Workers’ Comp appeal and make sure additional medical evidence is submitted to change the outcome this time.
Within a Year of a Workplace Injury
Hopefully, your claim has been resolved, and you have the monthly support you need to support yourself and your family.
But if your employer has waited to file a DWC-1 Form, it’s a good time to take action. This form must be turned in within a year of the accident, or the claim will likely be invalidated.
In some cases, the one-year deadline counts down from the day the worker learns of an injury or illness. The deadline could be extended if the victim is under the age of 18.
If your employer is purposely ignoring your injury claim, or has threatened you to stay silent, you should speak to a lawyer. There are anti-retaliation laws that can benefit you and leave your employer facing legal action.
Also remember, California workers’ comp benefits are for all workers, no matter their immigration or citizenship status. It’s also illegal to threaten any employee with reporting them to immigration officials if they report an injury. Contact Maison Law for help.
Contact a California Workers’ Comp Lawyer If You’ve Been Hurt
Not every workplace accident victim needs a lawyer. But if you’ve suffered a serious injury at work (e.g., a broken arm, a Traumatic Brain Injury, a neck or back injury) a good idea to talk over your case with a lawyer.
A skilled lawyer can often earn you much more in Workers’ Comp benefits than you could earn yourself.
Martin Gasparian, the founder of Maison Law, offers a free case consultation for injured victims and their families. It’s a chance to determine what you should demand and how to force insurers to accept full responsibility.
