We spend more than a third of our life working. For most of us, the numbers are even bigger. If you’re at the office for a considerable part of your day, it’s more likely that you’d be susceptible to workplace injury. Now, workplace injury is something that occurs to most people, either that can be severe or just minor injuries.

In Canada alone, there were more than 240,000 work injury cases that resulted in a loss of work time in 2017. In the USA, there were over 5.1 million occupational injuries and health illnesses! So, workplace injury is common – to help employees get over the loss, the workers’ compensation insurance helps ensure the job and financial conditions if you’re injured at work.

How Much Will You Get?

Well, the amount you’ll get as your workers’ compensation for workplace injury depends heavily on the insurance provider and industry in which you work. For high-risk jobs, the insurances are much higher and vice versa. The amount you receive may also change depending on how many workers’ compensation claims you’ve filed.

If you’re injured at work, you should report the injury to the WSIB to be qualified for workers’ compensation. For most people, claiming a file in the WSIB is quite simple. However, there are some

Let’s look at the 5 things to know before filing for workers’ compensation to the WSIB.

1. You Don’t Need To Prove Faults of The Employer

There’s a common misconception that you won’t be eligible to receive workman’s comp if you’re at fault for your injury. However, that’s not the case. The reality is that you can receive workers comp even if you’re at fault. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone for the compensation.

Moreover, the amount of workers’ compensation that you’ll be receiving will not be affected by your carelessness or misjudgment during the job.

However, if you were under the influence of alcohol or drugs that impaired your senses, you might not be eligible to receive the compensation for a workplace injury. In this case, it’s very important that you consult with an expert workplace injury attorney to discuss your case before filing a claim!

2. Don’t Waste Time Reporting Your Work-Related Injury

A lot of people think that they can report for the workplace injury later after they fully recover. However, this is a very big mistake. The WSIB states that you must report your workplace injury within 6 months of the injury. But, you’ll be at a serious risk of not getting the compensation if you delay reporting your claim.

In some cases, you might be confused as to if the injury can be considered as a workplace injury. You might be driving to your work while attaining the injury, or not be on duty during the time of injury. Most people do not claim the compensation because they’re confused about its validity. In such cases, it’s highly recommended that you talk to your workplace attorney to see if you’re eligible for the workplace injury claim.

3. You Can File A Negligence Lawsuit

Although you can’t blame or be blamed, you can act upon the negligence from others that caused you to sustain the injury. You can surely file a negligence lawsuit against a third party if you’re injured due to their negligence. In such cases, you can sue the manufacturer of defective pieces & malfunctioned equipment, or the engineer who didn’t do his/her job properly.

Besides that, anything you get from the negligent lawsuit will mean extra money for you to recover from your loss!

4. Keep All Your Medical Documentations Together

If you’re applying to the WSIB, you must ensure that you have all the medical documentation before claiming for the workers’ compensation. This is mainly because you’ll be asked to show medical evidence of your injury and the seriousness of your workplace injury. If you fail to show the medical documents, you risk of being denied of the workers’ comp.

Luckily, the medical documents will only be used to prove your injury. The WSIB or your employer can ask for your medical documents that are related to the claim. However, they can’t force you to disclose sensitive information regarding your medical health/checkup.

5. Know What Workers’ Compensation To Expect

Before you claim your workers’ comp, you must know what workers’ compensation you’re entitled to receive. This is mainly because each province has different sets of rules and regulations for eligibility and the amounts received. Knowing what to expect will help you to better understand if it’s worthwhile to go after the claim.

These are the workplace injury benefits that are generally available:

• Temporary Disability Benefits: This is the workman comp that is paid when you’re off from work and still recovering from your injury.
• Medical Treatment: This provides a reasonable amount for you to cover your medical care expenses.
• Permanent Disability Benefits: If you sustain a long-lasting physical impairment due to the workplace injury, you’ll be entitled to this benefit.
• Vocational Rehabilitation: Compensation that’ll cover your retraining costs and help you find other work in your industry.
• Mileage: This is the compensation that you’ll receive for your travel to and from doctor’s chambers and other injury-related travel.

Consider Hiring A Worker’s Compensation Lawyer

In most cases, your insurance company will not ask for paying your workplace injury compensation voluntarily. In such cases, you must consult with an expert workplace injury lawyer who can help you get the compensation you deserve.

The expert workers’ compensation attorney will help you so that the insurance company:

• Can’t reduce or deny your benefits
• Make a settlement offer, or
• Ignore your claim and/or request for invalid information and disregard your claim

In addition to that, insurance companies have an army of specialists who’re working to avoid paying people like you large sums of money. They’re also most likely to reject your claims or issue a settlement for a very little amount.

A workers’ compensation lawyer will work for your best interests, so you can depend on him/her to bring the most compensation possible for your workplace injury. Although your costs will increase as you hire a lawyer, it’ll surely pay off once you get the higher compensation benefits!

Conclusion

A workplace injury can be a difficult time to navigate through. You’ll be put through a lot of burdens due to medical bills and job discrepancies; these ought to be paid by your insurance company. If your employer or the insurance company denies your workers’ compensation, you can appeal your claim by applying to the WSIB.

However, there are certain procedures and things that you must know before applying to the WSIB. Following these will help you and your case in the WSIB.

You must know that you don’t need to prove the fault of your employer, and you won’t be judged either. However, you can file a negligent lawsuit and sue a third party that may have influenced your injury. Also, you must waste no time reporting your injury to the WSIB and make sure you’ve got all your medical documents with you.

It’s recommended that you know the types of workers’ compensation you’re entitled to, and claim the proper ones that fit your situation. You should also consider the extent to your injury and also the laws in your province.

You should also consider talking to an expert workplace injury attorney to take care of your case. The attorney can provide you with exceptional WSIB representation and get the compensation that you deserve. If you’re looking for such attorneys, you can surely choose Meducation Services for all your workplace injury needs!

Book a free consultation with us to review your case, and then we can take things from there!