3 Workers’ Comp Filing Mistakes You Need to Avoid

Workers’ compensation insurance is valuable for both employees and the organizations they work for. However, to expedite care, minimize expenses, and reduce legal liability, it’s important to file your workers’ comp claims appropriately. Any mistake in filing for workers’ compensation could delay compensation, cause complications for your claim, and possibly increase costs.

So, what are the most important mistakes to avoid?

The Basics of Workers’ Comp Filing

There are several steps to the workers’ comp filing process, which begins after an employee is injured on the job.

  • The employee report. First, the employee is required to submit a report about the accident to their immediate supervisor. It’s your responsibility to make sure employees know about this requirement and feel comfortable coming forward about injuries sustained on the job. Depending on the nature of the accident and the extent of the injuries, it may be necessary for the employee to get immediate medical attention. If this is the case, medical attention needs to be the highest priority. Even if the injuries are not that significant, it’s important to take medical care seriously and encourage your employees to see a doctor as soon as possible. Make sure they’re aware of the importance of keeping all medical records associated with these injuries.
  •  Employer paperwork. At this stage, the employer is responsible for educating the employee about the workers’ comp process and providing them with additional paperwork to fill out. This is also a good opportunity to conduct an internal investigation to examine the root causes of the accident and prevent similar accidents in the future.
  • Formal reporting to the insurance carrier. Once all this paperwork is complete, you can file a formal report with your insurance carrier. The employee’s doctor will also be required to submit a medical report. The process looks a little different between different insurance carriers, so make sure you carefully follow the instructions given to you.
  •  Dialogue with the insurance carrier. You’ll likely be working with an insurance adjuster, who may require additional information or have questions about what you submitted. They may choose to contact you via email, phone, or another medium. No matter what, you’ll be responsible for answering their questions and providing them with any additional details they require.
  • The return to work. When the employee has been cleared, they can return to work. At this point, you’ll just need to inform your insurance carrier of their return.

Workers’ Comp Filing Mistakes You Need to Avoid

These are some of the most significant, yet common, workers’ comp filing mistakes you should avoid:

  1. Delaying the report. The first mistake is delaying the reporting process, which can occur at multiple stages. Perhaps the employee delayed coming forward about the injury. Perhaps you delayed educating them and giving them the proper paperwork. Perhaps you even delayed submitting that paperwork to your insurance carrier. In any case, delays are problematic. It’s important to file your claim as soon as possible and for several independent reasons. Filing a claim helps the claim get processed faster, enabling the employee to get the care they need. This can also lower your claim costs and lead to more efficient investigations. Additionally, your business may be liable for penalties and fees for delays in reporting, and if the delay is egregious enough, you could open your business to litigation unnecessarily. This litigation can be complicated, expensive, and time-consuming, so you should avoid increasing your chances of having to deal with it.
  2. Failing to provide details. Insurance carriers need to see as much detail as possible in your claim so they can process the claim quickly and truly understand what happened. You’ll need to provide basic pieces of information, like the employee’s name, date of birth, and phone number. But you’ll also need to provide significant details on the conditions that led to the accident, how the injury occurred, and even the extent of the injury. In general, the more details you provide, the better, as any missing details are going to prolong the process unnecessarily.
  3. Delaying or neglecting responses. Finally, be prompt when responding to your insurance carrier. Your insurance adjuster is probably going to have questions about what happened, and they might point out mistakes in your paperwork. It’s your responsibility to be quickly responsive so the insurance adjuster gets all the information they need to process the claim. Your employee also needs to be responsive in this process.

Fortunately, these mistakes are easy to avoid if you truly understand workers’ comp and how claims work. Providing your employees with better education and training, taking workers’ comp claims seriously, and working with professionals to streamline the process can all help you minimize the risk of unnecessary complications.