I opened a workers comp claim, but my manager is saying that I didn’t tell her about work causing me pain. What do I do?

Question

I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel and told my manager. I do a lot of data entry and use 10 key the majority of my day. Some days I had swelling and pain in my hands, specially after a busy day, I would show her my hands and we would discuss getting an ergonomic keyboard or delegating some work to the rest of the team. A couple of times she gave me a massage at work. After several months, my pain and swelling is worse and I had to take time off work and ended up filing a WC claim. She is now saying that I didn’t inform her about the pain and swelling. What do I do? I was sent to the occupational doctor and they confirmed that I have carpal tunnel in both hands.

Nancy J. Wallace · Answer

There is nothing one can do about a manager willing to lie.  From this point forward, you MUST put each communication IN WRITING with a way to show a manager or adjuster received the writing, like a fax with a fax transmission report or mailing using Priority Mail for the receipt (skip the certified, nobody goes to the window to sign for it, just use Priority).   If you have a program on your email that confirms email delivery, you might use email (people claim hourly they never got an email, so that one is tough to prove).  You would be wise to get an experience attorney familiar with the worker-friendly hand specialists in San Diego.   You can only use doctors on the insurer's Medical Provider Network and the adjuster will send you to the cheapest doctor who will return you to work the fastest and write there's nothing wrong when you are still in pain and dropping coffee cups.

Q: I opened a workers comp claim, but my manager is saying that I didn’t tell her about work causing me pain. What do I do?