When people in California go to work each day, they are usually just focused on what they need to do at their jobs. They don’t usually think about whether they will be injured or not while they are working. Despite this, many people are injured on the job in all types of employment. These injuries can be very devastating for workers and their families if they rely on that income to meet their needs.
To ensure that a worker can continue to pay their bills if they are unable to work due to the injury, workers are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. This can help pay for the medical bills and some of the workers’ income while they are unable to work.
The process generally starts with getting a medical examination to determine the type of injury, the cause of it and how to best treat it so that the worker can get back to work. However, the worker may not always agree with the initial medical report. Workers are entitled to challenge a medical report and receive a second opinion. These second opinions can be sought for disagreements on both the treatment needed and disagreements on the cause of the accident. The employer needs to provide the employee’s information on how to obtain a second opinion as well.
Once the worker has a medical evaluation that they agree with, then they send the report to claims administrators to determine whether they approve the treating doctor’s treatment plan.
Employees who are injured at work in California may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. However, it can be a complicated process to get the correct treatment for the injury. Getting the right information about the process is crucial.
Source: Department of Industrial Relations, “Injured Worker Guidebook Chapter 4” accessed on Dec. 12, 2016
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