Q: What can I do about an on the job injury for a company I quit after being ignored when asking to go to clinic for 3 hrs?
My job consisted of some heavy lifting. My wrist began to bother me on Thursday but I didn't think much of it. Friday my wrist bother me alot more. I let the Assistant Store Manager know who told me to "try and taken it easy". I had the weekend off. Come Monday I went back to work after a short period my wrist got to a point that I felt I could no longer work without causing pain to myself. I let my department manager know id like to visit the Dr to check my wrist (HR was out of the store at the time) who let me know he advised the Store Manager and I would be sent to the clinic soon. I let the manager know at 9 am and at 12 pm (time of my lunch) I had still not been sent to a clinic or had and update. I continued doing my job until I felt every motion of my wrist brought pain. Feeling unhappy with the way I was being treated I quit. It has been 2 weeks and my wrist still bothers me when making certain motions. I've done no other lifting to blame for the pain I'm experiencing now.
A: QUITTING IS THE WORSE POSSIBLE DECISION AN INJURED WORKER MAKES. These facts presented here do not indicate that you put a Workers Comp Clain IN WRITING prior to quitting. So filing a Workers Compensation Claim form today means the insurer can deny the claim as a non-compensable POST-SEPARATION CLAIM. Workers Comp claims filed after a workers leaves the job are generally not compensable. Somehow you would have to prove that you clearly advised the supervisor 'I have a workers compensation claim, I'm going to the workers comp clinic'. Just saying, 'my wrist hurts, i want someone to check it out' is NOT reporting a work injury...those words do not state that the wrist pain is the result of employment, those words only say that the employment makes a pre-injury pain worsen. If this ever happens again, STOP WORKING and just WAIT IN THE SUPERVISOR'S OFFICE for an assignment to a workers comp physician. Also, every employer has a poster indicating the number to call and the clinic to see when there is an on-the-job injury...you just needed to go to that facility. If you can show there is no such poster any place on the premises, the employer can be fined, so it's extremely likely this poster is someplace and you just never read it. NOW all you can do is complete a DWC Form 1 Workers Compensation Claim Form and note in the 'employer' section that the employer knew of the injury the same date you quit, and see if the insurance adjuster on that poster accepts responsibility for the injury. If she does not, you could request a trial for a finding that you told the supervisor you had a work injury prior to quitting, but you would need witnesses about which words were spoken (unless you wrote up the claim and have copies of the written injury report and DWC1).
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