While you may have not thought about it before, you have rights as an employee. Your employer can’t force you to resign due to a work-related injury. Realize that when they force you to resign, it’s simply understood by the law that they fired you. If you’ve found yourself in this situation. Here are the steps you need to be following to ensure that you get proper compensation for your injury.
Know Your Rights
As an employee, you cannot be terminated due to a workplace injury. While your employer may not want to accommodate your necessary time off, restricted job duties, or so forth, they can’t terminate you. They have worker’s compensation insurance for a reason. It’s there to cover your medical costs and wages while you’re unable to work due to a work-related injury.
Get a Hold of an Attorney
You’ll immediately want to seek out a worker’s compensation attorney referral. The sooner you reach out for legal assistance, the sooner you can get your worker’s compensation claim submitted. This means that you can get the benefits you deserve sooner to pay for your medical bills and get your lost wages. A skilled attorney will be able to walk you through the legal process to ensure that it’s done correctly. They can easily answer all the questions you have about worker’s compensation.
Document All Your Medical Visits and Expenses
You should have a diary or a similar notebook where you can document all the information regarding your injury. From what happened and how you felt to what the doctor diagnosed you with is all important information to keep on hand. If you have to pay for any of the medical expenses out of pocket, be sure to write down the amount and other relevant information about it.
Realize That You’re in the Right
Sometimes when you’re pressured into a situation by a boss it can feel as if you don’t have any other options. Just because you resigned due to their force doesn’t mean that you don’t have access to your worker’s compensation rights. A forced resignation is not a true resignation. Rather, it’s a termination in the eyes of the law. Realize that you have the right to have your medical expenses paid for and to continue to earn a living when you’re injured due to your job.
Work-related injuries can be touchy areas for employers. They can freak out about having to file a worker’s compensation claim and try to get employees to resign. If you’ve found yourself in the situation where you were forced to resign due to your workplace injury, you should be utilizing the steps above to ensure that your financial future is looked out for.