When you are injured at work, the last thing that you want to do is deal with a bunch of steps to get worker’s compensation that can help you get the medical care you need and the wage replacement that can help you eek by until you are able to go to work again. Knowing the steps of the process can help you to be prepared for what is to come if you are injured at work.
The first thing that happens in a worker’s compensation case is that you will report your injury to your employer. Typically, this will occur within 30 days of the accident, but it can happen as late as 12 years after the injury. There are some exceptions to the 12-year statute of limitations, such as certain diseases or traumatic injuries.
Once you let your employer know of the injury, your employer will notify the company’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier. This must be done within 24 hours if the accident involved a fatality or seven days if it was only an injury.
When the insurance company learns about the injury, it has to notify the WC Division within 14 days of it receiving the report. That is reduced to 24 hours if the accident involved a fatality. The insurance company then has to report the payments and other information to the WC Division. This must occur within 30 days after the injury.
Other steps, such as hearings and appeals are added to this process if you don’t agree with the outcome of the claim. Knowing how to handle those is crucial because many of them are a one-time-only event that must be handled appropriately.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, “Worker's Compensation Claim Flow,” accessed Sep. 30, 2016
