Question about workers comp?

[gilleabart]

Here's the story. My friend injured his leg at home. Cut it really badly and needed stitches. He went to work. A couple days later, while at work, a case fell on him and it cut his stitches open. Is in entitled to workers compensation benefits or not since his initial injury was at home. Please no inquiries, answer only if you are fairly sure of yourself. I will vote answer and thanks to everyone for reading!

[delron72]

~~ He was obviously able to work because his first doctor did not remove him from his duties. So the answer is absolutely-yes. He just needs to complete an injury report with his employer and they will direct him from there. The only interference which will come of this is at the time of settlement (for any extra medical costs, how much time lost from work, etc). This is because they (WC Ins.) will try to blame his existing injuries as an excuse for the majority of his new injury. Not a big deal if he gets medical treatment and is lucky enough to return to work with no complications. If there are complications, then I would urge him to get an attorney, this would be too complicated to take care of on his own.

State laws can vary as they govern their own WC system. I am giving you exactly how it would work in CA~~

[bearchan]

It's going to depend on what state he is in, but in MOST states, when an injury at work aggrevates a preexisting injury, workers compensation DOES apply.

AS LONG AS he's being held from work, due to complications regarding the AGGREVATION of the injury, and not the original injury, yes, he would be entitled to it.

Keep in mind, workers comp would pay his medical bills. For lost wages, there is a WAITING period. He has to be out a certain number of days (varies by state) before he's entitled to any lost wages payments.

[deangelo51]

What your friend should do is file the claim just in case to protect his right's and interest. Once it's filed then he should tell the adjuster that he lacerated his leg at home and unfortunately it broke open during the accident. The adjuster will note this, well, should note it. What the adjuster may do is that they will pay for the stitches as a courtesy and treat the claim as a contusion.

If the leg gets infected due to the work injury then this could be covered because it all goes to "had he not had an accident at work then the infection wouldn't have happened" But if it's clean and doesn't smell then he should be fine.

If he's off work the adjuster has to make sure whether it's for the laceration or the contusion. It's tricky because the question is: "what is the major contributing factor" that caused him to be off work? Was it the laceration or the contusion? If it's the latter end, he gets paid, if it's the laceration...he might be SOL.

Be honest about the injury. Let work comp take it's course. 95% of the cases are not cheats.

Good luck

[jordi]

Worker's Comp, never ever ever has a pre-existing condition exclusion. So yes he will be covered for the extent of the injury at work, which is not the full injury that he sustained both at home and work, just the extra that he received at work.

Most states have a second injury fund for this type of thing, which is way above the context of this question, but do not worry this is all set up in the system.

[michelangelo]

He shouldn't have went to work with an existing injury. He isn't entitled to anything. Also if he went to work with stitches why cant he just go back to work with new stitches? I smell fraud