What is the Workers’ Compensation process in D.C.?
If you were hurt on the job in Washington, D.C., or most of your work is performed in D.C. but you were hurt in Maryland or Virginia, or your employer is located in the District of Columbia, there is a process to follow to make sure you get Workers’ Compensation benefits. Our Workers’ Compensation lawyer has written an entire book on the D.C. Workers’ Compensation system, but here are the steps you will need to follow.
1. When you get hurt at work, you need to report the injury.
In the D.C Workers’ Compensation system, you have 30 days from the date of the injury to give your employer notice, or report the injury to them. This is a critical step in the Workers’ Compensation process.
What does reporting your injury mean?
It means telling a supervisor, foreman, HR, or notifying someone with authority in your company. It is not enough to tell a coworker, or someone else you work with. Reporting your injury also means telling your employer that the injury happened at work. Too many times, we see people who believe their employer knows about their injury because they told someone that their back was hurting or called in sick, or weren’t feeling well, or believe a coworker saw them get hurt, but this isn’t enough. You need to connect the work activity to the injury or medical condition.
Here are some specific examples of how to report your work injury:
- “I hurt my back lifting a pipe yesterday.”
- “I hurt my shoulder installing a compressor.”
- “I hurt my neck and back when I slipped and fell off.”
If possible, you should report your injury in writing, especially if your company has an incident report. But it may also be enough to text a foreman or supervisor. (Just make sure you keep a copy of those texts or communication). You may not know the extent of the injuries when you first report them, but that’s OK. Be as specific as you can.
If your injury happened, overtime, or due to cumulative or repetitive trauma from work activities, you should report the injury within 30 days of when you knew your medical condition or injury was related to your work. Usually, this is when a doctor makes a diagnosis and says it is related to your work.
2. Get the medical treatment you need for your injury at work
In the D.C. and Maryland Workers’ Compensation systems, you have the right to choose your own doctor and medical providers. You do not have to go to a “workers clinic” or other medical facility or doctor the workers’ compensation insurance company or your job recommends. These work injury clinics and insurance company Doctors get all of their patients from insurance companies, so who’s side do you think they are on?
In our view, Workers’ Compensation is all about protecting your future – your health, and ability to earn a living and provide for your family. A work injury clinic probably does not have specialists you may need to see, and will not want to order expensive tests that the insurance company will have to pay for.
If you have a serious injury at work, you can go to any hospital and then follow up with the right specialists in the D.C. area. Most doctors offices, physical therapy, providers, hospitals, and surgical centers take workers’ compensation insurance.
Obviously, if you are taken to the hospital immediately after your injury, workers’ compensation insurance information probably won’t be available yet. But you can use your own health insurance for that initial treatment, and we will help you get that sorted out later, but it should not delay medical treatment that you need.
3. Don’t sign any forms the insurance company send you
After an injury, the insurance company will want to do two things: interview you and record the interview, and have you sign some forms. You should not do either one of these until you speak with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney who can guide you through the process.
There is no need for an insurance company to get a recorded interview of you, especially if you are on pain medication, in pain, and feeling the effects of the injury. This interview is taken by a workers’ compensation adjuster, who has probably conducted thousands of these interviews. The interview is designed to try to find ways to delay or deny your legitimate workers’ compensation claim. In our cases, we do not allow claims adjusters to interview our clients, we handle all of the communication with the adjuster, because we know how dangerous this can be.
Many insurance companies will tell you they need to interview you or have you sign a release for all of your medical information in order to process your claim. This is simply not true. The insurance adjuster will try to get you to sign a release form that essentially allows them to get every medical record since birth – and they will try to use any prior injury or illness against you.
Why do they do this? Because they are looking for reasons to deny or delay paying your medical treatment and benefits. For example, if you fell at work, and tore your ACL, they will be looking for any reference to knee pain, even if it is from 25 years ago and has nothing to do with an ACL tear.
Have you been asked to hand over all your medical records and give a recorded statement? Here are 5 mistakes to avoid.
4. File your claim forms in the right jurisdiction.
For people who work and live in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, the workers’ compensation systems, benefits, rules, and requirements are different in each jurisdiction. Most people don’t realize the disadvantage they are at or how much money they could lose if they file their claim in the wrong place. We see this often with people who either try to do it themselves, or hire a lawyer that does not specialize in workers’ compensation, who may not know the difference.
Not only can the workers’ compensation rate vary from state to state, but the maximum rate can also vary from year to year. Because D.C. workers’ compensation benefits can be higher than those in Maryland and Virginia, insurance companies do everything they can to have people file their claim in Maryland or Virginia, when it should be in D.C. Unfortunately, once you file a claim and receive benefits under the workers’ compensation system of another state, you cannot receive benefits in the District of Columbia.
Again, if you were hurt on the job, you should not sign any forms the workers’ compensation insurance company sent you without speaking with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer.
5. Get the best information and advice about the workers’ compensation system.
After an injury at work, you’re all of a sudden in a difficult and complicated insurance system and you are dealing with a large insurance company who is making the decisions, instead of the people you work with. The workers’ compensation insurance company has specialized claims adjusters, case managers, lawyers, doctors, and investigators, whose only job is to save the insurance company money by limiting the amount they pay to people who are injured on the job.
Not only have we written the book on the D.C. workers’ compensation system, but we can make the whole process easy on you. We will send you a free book or a shorter report that you can use right away.
Sometimes all it takes is a quick phone call to take away the stress, anxiety, and uncertainty of getting started with a workers’ compensation claim to ensure you don’t get taken advantage of by the insurance company. There is absolutely no obligation or cost to you to speak with us, and it is completely confidential.
We are dedicated to helping you understand the process and make sure that you get the best outcome from your workers’ compensation claim. Our knowledgeable and experienced staff is here to help you navigate the complexities of the workers’ compensation system. With our help, you will gain the confidence and understanding you need to feel secure in your decision. Learn more about workers’ compensation here. We’ve got plenty of free resources to help you.
Give us a call today at 202-393-3320 or fill out our contact form. You will speak with a real person who will listen and help you get the compensation you deserve!
