When you’re the main breadwinner, it falls on you to bring home the bacon. Trouble comes into paradise with this situation when there’s an accident at work. If you’ve been injured, you’ve struggled to continue working in the same job, and you’re under increased pressure, what can you do? To help you out, here are some tips on how best to handle it.
Don’t Grin and Bear It
When it comes to workplace injuries, some companies won’t take it seriously enough. Worse still, they may be trying to blame you for the accident by suggesting that you weren’t paying attention or were rushing because you were late to a meeting.
Whatever you do, don’t get bamboozled by the pressure being applied by an employer. If the business is large enough, they may even have in-house counsel or a high-powered outside firm representing them from day one. When you feel like you’re just one employee in thousands, it can be all too easy to grin and bear it, and later cave to their demands. Don’t do that.
Your Family is Relying on You
Remember that your family is relying on you – perhaps you have another baby on the way or there are already extra mouths to feed? Either way, if your job is under threat because of the incident or you’ve partially lost your ability to work in that role (or similar ones), your future employability and a livable income could be at stake too. Take it seriously. The employer certainly is and will bring out the heavy artillery on you if necessary too. They’re not your friends. They’re protecting themselves, so you must do the same.
Get a Workers’ Compensation Attorney
Companies will work with lawyers who know the law for that state regarding workers’ compensation for injuries on the job. They’ll know how the system works, what’s possible, what’s not, and everything in between. You’re immediately at a disadvantage because you don’t know any of those things. So, do yourself a favor and hire a workers’ compensation attorney in your state. For instance, David R. Heil has been providing Orlando-based workers compensation representation for over 30 years now. He can talk you through what’s necessary and what happens from here.
Document What Happened, the Injuries and Limitations
The longer things continue, the fuzzier the memory becomes. The little details can become especially important in these types of cases, so it’s necessary to get it all down before it becomes less clear. Document what happened on paper and on a video recording too. Doing so not only helps to capture key pieces of information, but can also trigger more memories later.
Also, describe the injuries that you’ve sustained. Add in how it prevents you from performing certain actions at work or the impact it has on your home life. This helps to put things in real terms.
Workers’ compensation cases need to be handled properly to achieve the best results. Don’t leave it too late to get legal advice.
