What should I do following a workplace injury in North Carolina?

If you are suffer a workplace injury, it is comforting to know that North Carolina workers’ compensation will pay your medical expenses and lost wages while you are out of work. If your doctor recommends rehabilitation, that would also be covered under workers’ compensation.

There are steps that you must take in order to ensure that your on-the-job injury will be handled through workers’ compensation. The first thing you must do is obtain medical treatment and notify your employer. If your employer has a medical provider at your place of work or if one is offered off-site, you must use the provider designated by your employer.

Whichever medical provider you see for you workplace injury, you must let that person know that it was the result of a workplace accident. Doing this allows the doctor or other health care provider to submit bills as a workers’ compensation claim.

If you did not do so before seeking medical treatment, you should notify your manager or the owner of the company for which you work of your workplace injury. A brain injury or other serious injury that prevents you from personally reporting it to your employer does not eliminate the requirement that it be reported. Ask a friend or family member to do the reporting for you.

Written notice of the injury must be given to your employer within 30 days after the accident. The notice should include the date and a description of the accident and injury.

Failure to follow these steps could jeopardize your right to workers’ compensation benefits for the on-the-job injury you suffered. An injured worker might benefit from a consultation about the claim with a Charlotte workers compensation attorney. This post is not intended as legal advice that should only come from an attorney.