What happens if I don’t report my Missouri Work Comp injury within 30 days?
This is Springfield, Missouri Worker’s Compensation attorney Jason Krebs, and in today’s video I thought we’d answer the question, “What happens if I don’t report my Missouri Work Comp injury within 30 days?” Well, if you don’t report your Missouri Work Comp injury within 30 days the employer can basically exclude you from benefits under Missouri Work Compensation Law. Now there are some exceptions to this, but it is not a position that you want to put yourself into.
There’s basically nothing good that can happen by waiting any period of time, let alone the 31 days or more before deciding that you should report your injuries. So if you get injured at work you should report it immediately before you do anything, and under Missouri law the employer’s entitled to pick the doctor, so you don’t want them to claim that they were prejudiced by you going to your own doctor and it cost them more than it should have. So the first thing you should do after an injury is go report it to your boss, supervisor, HR.
If they don’t do anything about it then and there, if they don’t acknowledge it, you should report it in writing, via email, certified letter, fax, and keep a copy of what you sent, and the receipt of it. It’s important to do that sooner than later because otherwise you could lose all your benefits under Missouri law. It’s very unfair, but the insurance companies have got a good lobby group in Jeff City, so it’s important that you do that sooner than later. Every day that you wait you give them the option to claim that it was not work related, or that you did it at home, or whatever. So do it immediately.
If your boss isn’t there that day be sure and report the next morning first thing, or shoot them an email that day even. We do offer a book to Missouri residence, and you can get that at KrebsLawOffice.com, or call our office at 417-883-5886, or 1-800-345-0535. We’ll be happy to get that out to you.
We do represent injured workers throughout the state of Missouri, and we wish you the best of luck, and thanks for watching.
