Why Does My Company Not Want Me to File Workers’ Compensation?

When you get hurt on the job, you become the most unpopular person in the company.  Why does this happen?  You got hurt at work doing your job, and thus when you got hurt you were making the company money.  Shouldn’t they be bending over backwards to help you get the medical care you need, weekly compensation if you are unable to work, and a settlement at the end of the case?  While this would seem the just and logical way your company should look at an on the job injury, the reality is that most companies are all too concerned with the bottom line.  You may have been making them money when you were a healthy employee, but the moment you got hurt on the job, you went from a money-maker to a money-taker!

In today’s world, competition in all areas of commerce is fierce, and literally every penny is pinched in companies across North Carolina and South Carolina.  When you got hurt on the job, you set in motion a whole set of costs and expenses that have made you that most unpopular person.  If your company is self-insured, meaning they pay all of their workers’ compensation expenses themselves, then your injury just added to, or changed what they had budgeted for workers’ compensation injuries.  That money has got to come from somewhere, and often that money is reflected in safety bonuses, or manager bonuses that are now not going to be paid all because of you.  So, if your manager is trying to discourage you from filing workers’ compensation, he or she, may have a very real world financial reason for doing so!  And, if your fellow employees don’t seem like they want to be a witness for you, those safety bonuses are a powerful motivator for not documenting an on the job injury.  Any witness statement that they do for you is actually not for you, because they are going to feel the pressure from management and other co-workers to make what they write down to be as favorable to the company as possible.

Just how far will a workers’ compensation insurance company go to avoid paying on a claim?  The answer may surprise you.  A recent North Carolina case featured a workers’ compensation insurance company that lost a decision in front of a hearing commissioner and all appeal.  Instead of just paying for the injured worker’s medical treatment, and weekly indemnity benefits, instead they hired a private investigator to edit surveillance video in such a fashion that made it look like the employee that was hurt on the job was committing fraud.  The workers’ compensation insurance company then directed its investigator to convince the local police department to bring charges against the injured worker for fraud.  The poor injured worker was arrested, jailed, and indicted on charges of obtaining property by false pretenses, and insurance fraud.  The charges were dismissed after another medical exam showed that the worker’s injury and condition was consistent.  Obviously, not every workers’ compensation company, or workers’ compensation adjuster would go, or does go to this extreme.  But, we have seen numerous instances where the workers’ compensation insurance company, their adjuster, and/or the self-insured company makes things all too personal. 

If you have a workers’ compensation case, and have been hurt on the job, your company has the legal obligation in an accepted workers’ compensation case to pay your medical bills in full, pay you compensation at 2/3 of your average weekly wage if you are written out of work, and compensate you for a permanent injury.  Workers’ compensation cases can be confusing, especially when your company is just doing what is in its best interest!  You need someone to look out for you, so call Tippens & Zurosky, so we can be your voice, answer all of your questions, and file your claim!  Tippens & Zurosky has knowledgeable, experienced attorneys certified in North Carolina and South Carolina, who can fight for your rights during this often long and difficult workers' compensation process.  Call us toll-free at 877-872-3580, or at 704-343-0018, for a free consultation.  Let us help you!