Disability Law

Workers Comp Claims For Wrist Repetitive Motion Injury

By Jodi Ginsberg

I work at a job where I am using a computer keyboard all day long.  Over the past few months, my right wrist started to hurt and get numb at times.  I reported my injury on November 28, 2006 to the Human Resouces Manager requesting for a keyboard tray from desk.

The HR Manager told me that it was out of his hands and that I should order a tray through my manager for approval.  I asked on several occasions for the tray and my injury started to become more aggravated, so I went to his boss asking him about the status of a computer tray.  He told me that the tray was too expensive and I now needed a doctors note in order for me to receive a keyboard tray. 

I went to my doctor and told him the same story and he suggested that I file a workmen's comp claim since it was a work related injury. It was filed the first week of February with the correct injury date of November 28th  I am scheduled for surgery this Wednesday February 28th and they are now just informing me that I have to use my PTO to compensate my time off.  Now, by law if I use the 21 days from the injury date (which it has been) shouldn't I receive full compensation?

–Alyce

Jodi Ginsberg responds:  Alyce, thanks for your question.  The law requires that you file your workers compensation claim within 30 days of the injury.  Here it looks like your date of injury was November 28, but you did not file your claim until the first of February.   Is your employer acknowledging that you "reported" your injury in November?

For the benefit of anyone reading this blog, employers and insurance companies use these "reporting deficiencies" all the time to deny claims.  If you get  hurt on the job, you should always try to report the claim in writing and, if possible, file a report of on-the-job injury yourself with the State Board of Workers' Compensation.

Assuming that your employer recognizes this as a workers comp injury, you ask about the 21 day rule.  The 21 days runs not necessarily from date you reported it,but rather, from date of economic disability (when you stopped working). Did you continue working after the November, 2006 "injury date?"

By the way, if your injury did not "happen" on a specific day but was the result of months or years of overuse, then the injury date you choose is called a "fictitious injury date."  In cases involving these types of "overuse" injury, it is even more important for the injured claimant to file his own Form 14 notice on injury with the State Board.

Technorati Tags: Georgia State Board of Workers Compensation, Form 14, fictitious injury date, notice of on the job injury, repetitive motion injury, carpal tunnel

Full post as published by Georgia Workers Compensation blog on March 01, 2007 (boomark / email).