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Filing a Workers Compensation Claim

When you have been injured, what do you do? You need to file a workers compensation claim.

Sometimes, filing a workers compensation claim is easy.  Other times, your employer or their insurance company will make it difficult.  Here is some information about how to file a claim in both of those situations.

Report your work injury to your employer

Georgia law makes starting a workers compensation case easy. You just report your injury to your employer through a supervisor.

Your employer will probably send you to the doctor to get checked out. Your employer has up to 21 days to investigate your case before making a decision about whether to pay you benefits or not.

If everything goes well, they will file a Form WC-2 and start paying you weekly benefits for the time you are out of work.  They will pay for medical treatment as well.  You may not have to do anything to get your claim filed.

What if your employer makes filing your claim more difficult?

Sometimes, your employer or their insurance company makes it difficult to file your workers compensation claim. For example, here are some situations you might encounter.

  1. You report your injury to your employer but they do not file it with their workers compensation insurance company.  They might claim that their insurance costs will go up.  They might encourage you to just get treatment on your group health insurance.
  2. You report your injury but your employer never notifies the workers compensation insurance company so nothing happens while you wait.
  3. You report your injury.  Your employer notifies the workers compensation insurance company.  They deny your claim.

In these situations, you probably will need to file a claim yourself.  Neither your employer nor their insurance company controls whether you file a claim.

You can file a claim yourself by filing a Form WC-14.  You can request a hearing with that same document.  Make sure not to wait too long to file your claim because there are deadlines that can cause you to lose your case.

Whether the insurance company denies or accepts your claim, you still should talk to an attorney

Filing a workers compensation claim can be easy or difficult. But it is important to remember that it is just the first step in recovering from your work injury.

If your employer or the workers compensation insurance company is not making it easy to file your claim, you should definitely talk to an attorney.  You may need to fight them in court.  An attorney who specializes in Georgia workers compensation law can help you do this.

Even your employer makes filing your claim is easy, recovering from your injury may be difficult.  I would still encourage you to talk to a workers compensation attorney to find out your rights about medical treatment and other workers compensation benefits.

What if I have other questions about workers compensation?

Georgia’s workers compensation system can be very confusing.  You have to worry about getting the treatment you need and paying your bills while also worrying about not missing any deadlines that could cause you to lose your right to receive workers compensation benefits.

If you have questions, I would recommend that you try to get answers.  To find out more about how to schedule a time to talk to me about your workers compensation questions, just read this short article.

Jason Perkins is an attorney who specializes in representing injured workers.  He regularly publishes videos and write blog articles about Georgia’s workers compensation system and issues that are important to injured workers and their families.

To be notified of Jason’s new workers compensation videos, subscribe to his Georgia Workers Compensation Video Series channel on YouTube by clicking the subscribe button below.

Brittney-lee orourkeBrittney-lee orourke
05:23 18 Feb 22
Amazing! Jason and his team were very helpful and had the best communication by far. Walked me though every step with great detail and had answers for any question I had. They handled my case better then I could imagine, it was a weird case and they stayed on top of it and kept me updated every step of the way! Highly recommend this Team! Thanks so much to Jason and his Awesome team!-Brittney
China JonesChina Jones
18:58 08 Feb 22
I absolutely love this group of attorneys, when I was at my lowest they did everything they could to help me get justice for my injury. I believe if I were to have never picked my phone up and called the amazing group that helped me I definitely would not have received my idea of rights. If you have an issue and are just not sure please understand that they will help you, stay in contact, answer any question you have, and for sure get you the justice you deserve I thank them from the bottom of my heart and I will definitely refer them to anyone who has been hurt because they most definitely care about their work and clients.
Luv LocsLuv Locs
16:08 15 Jan 22
The entire law office was attentive and responsive to all of my concerns dealing with my workers compensation case.
moombimoombi
21:14 02 Jan 22
If you must get a lawyer involved, you’d do well to work with Jason Perkins and his team at Perkins Studdard Law.They were thorough in gathering information and in sharing all the steps in the workers comp process specific to my case. Jason and the team were responsive to my bevy of questions and concerns.I appreciated the informative videos and consultations provided by Jason over video meetings and multiple phone calls.I hope I’m never injured on the job again. However, if I am and if my employer responds as my previous employer did, I’ll contact Perkins Studdard Law immediately to handle the case.
Dana BessDana Bess
23:57 10 Dec 21
Everyone at Perkins Studdard was kind and professional. They were always extremely responsive and answered all questions that I had and followed up to make sure I had an understanding of what was going on along with emailing videos to explain every step of my case so I would know what to expect and be prepared. Jason is a very genuine person and I trusted him with my case. He answered so many questions for me even before I retained him as my WC lawyer. I highly recommend him and his associates at Perkins Studdard.
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Workers' Compensation Attorney

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