Workers' compensation is designed to financially help an employee if they are injured on the job. However, workers' compensation is not always guaranteed. There are several reasons why workers' compensation could be denied. Here are a few of those reasons.
You Were Not Following Safety Procedures
Safety procedures are put in place to protect workers from being injured. That is why you can expect a claim to be denied if you were not respecting the safety procedures that have been put in place to protect you.
For example, you may not have been wearing a required helmet and were hit in the head by an object. While you would normally be protected due to the helmet, the injury was made worse by your own decision to ignore safety procedures.
Safety procedures can also be violated by messing around with co-workers at work, being intoxicated while at work, or even getting into a physical altercation with a co-worker that results in an injury.
You Have a Pre-Existing Condition
An employee that had a pre-existing condition before they started their job may be ineligible to receive workers' compensation to treat that injury. However, a current job should not aggravate that injury even more.
This is one area where it will be challenging to prove how the new injury occurred and what was responsible for aggravating it. You may need the help of aworkers comp attorney to fight your claim being denied since there will be a lot of legal work to get the compensation you deserve.
You Never Went To The Doctor
The severity of the injury will be judged by what type of medical treatment you received. No matter how big or work-related related injury is, having it treated by a doctor will be the best course of action you can take toward improving your health.
However, it is not enough that you simply go to the doctor right after your injury. You must follow all requests that your doctor makes, such as going to personal therapy or wearing a brace that they provide you. Not doing these things may demonstrate that the injury was not severe, or that you had a speedy recovery.
Your Injury Didn't Happen While Performing Your Job
It is important that your injury actually happens while you are performing your job. For example, an injury that happened while on your personal lunch break may not be covered by workers' compensation, but it would be covered if you were told to pick up lunch for your co-workers' by your boss.
