Why timing is essential in workers’ compensation claims

Working in a warehouse or utilizing dangerous equipment may have you avoiding obstacles and hazards during your work day. Your risk of injury to your hands and knees is high when you use a strenuous, repetitive motion daily, or your job requires you to operate heavy machinery. You worry that you may face a serious accident on the job.

Luckily, you know that your employer holds workers’ compensation insurance, and you will have the opportunity to receive reimbursement for your expenses due to your medical care or loss of work. Many workers do not know, however, that they only have a specific amount of time to file for workers’ compensation to receive benefits.

Statute of limitations: Two years

As an injured employee, you must file a claim within two years after the accident in order to receive compensation. When you face a workplace injury, you want to report your injury immediately to your employer, so that he or she can document the circumstances accordingly.

Receiving medical care will lie at the top of your list of priorities, but paying for the associated medical costs will quickly follow. Yet because you worked within the scope of your employment and reported your injury, you may not have trouble receiving your required reimbursement.

The two-year statute of limitations for workers’ compensation claims exists to ensure that employers pay compensation immediately to injured workers, so that they can recover and return to work as soon as possible. It also exists to ensure that employees quickly report accidents to avoid false claims of injuries that happened years ago.

Know that the statute of limitations does not apply to occupational diseases such as asbestosis, silicosis or lead poisoning, as these diseases develop over time.

Filing a workers’ compensation claim as quickly as possible allows you to avoid missing the statute of limitations, but it also enables you to begin receiving compensation quickly following your workplace injury. You may wish to hire a Charlotte work comp attorney while obtaining your reimbursement, so that he or she can help you receive maximum benefits related to your injury.