3 Parties That Can Delay Worker's Compensation Claims

Worker's compensation benefits help injured employees recoup some of the financial losses injuries cause. The sooner worker's compensation processes your claim, the sooner you receive the benefits. Understand what or who can delay your claim so you can preempt them. Below are three main parties that can cause such delays.

Unavoidable circumstances, intentional actions, and unintentional actions of the insurance company can delay your claim processing. Below are examples of such issues.

An inadequately staffed insurance company might struggle to handle its claims on time. The risk is even high if the company covers numerous businesses and receives multiple claim filings.

Administrative errors are possible in all businesses, including insurance companies. For example, many insurance companies handle claims on a first-come-first-serve basis. However, an adjuster might make a mistake and start working on a relatively recent claim before older ones.

Relevant and adequate training is necessary for all professionals, including insurance workers. Thus, inadequate training means insurance workers might not know what to do at some stage of claim processing. The situation might trigger a delay, for example, if a supervisor has to jump in to sort the problem.

Insurance companies investigate claims before accepting or denying them. Complicated cases take a long time to investigate. For example, a claim with preexisting injuries might long to investigate.

Some insurance companies intentionally delay claims in a bid to lower their settlement payouts. Such an insurance company can use the delay to frustrate you and force you to accept a low settlement.

Your worker's compensation claim might delay even before it leaves your employer's hands. Below are some causes of such delay.

You should report your injury to your supervisor or employer as soon as possible. The employer will then forward the relevant injury paperwork to worker's compensation insurance. This process might not go smoothly if your employer doesn't have an appropriate reporting procedure in place.

In many cases, the first person to receive the injury report is not the person who processes and sends it to workers' compensation. For example, your immediate supervisor might receive the report and forward it to a dedicated department that deals with worker injuries. If that is the case in your workplace, miscommunication between the two parties can delay the report.

The number of worker's compensation claims an employer makes affects their insurance premiums in subsequent years. An unscrupulous employer might decide to sweep some claims under the carpet to minimize their effect on future premiums.

Many employees don't understand how worker's compensation claims work. As such, your actions or inactions can delay your worker's compensation claim. Below are some examples of such actions.

A prompt injury report is advisable for multiple reasons. For example, early reporting gives your employer time to investigate the accident. Early reporting also initiates the claim processing. A delay might force your employer to take longer than normal to investigate the accident and forward your paperwork.

Your employer needs an incident report that details the nature, location, and time of the accident. The employer needs to know what you were doing at the time of the injury since worker's compensation only pays for work-related injuries. Your claim might delay if you leave out some details.

The Law Office of Paul R. Bennett has represented injury victims since 1984. We believe in helping injured workers recover their full damages in the shortest time possible. Contact us for a consultation whether you have filed your worker's compensation claim or plan to do so. We can help streamline the process and preempt delays.