It’s a fact of life that workers are sometimes hurt or become ill on the job. It’s also a fact that since 1913 Connecticut has insured that every employee in the state who is injured or falls ill is entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits.

Workers compensation is meant to pay bills that accumulate while the employee cannot work; job training; temporary total disability; and permanent partial disability.

Injuries or work-related illnesses from office, factory, construction, or any kind of employment you can think off are, in theory at least, covered.

But – we cannot stress enough how important it is to understand this – the responsibility for filing and following through on a workers compensation claim falls on the employee . . . not the employer.

Employees injured on the job have 360 days to inform their employers of the injury(s) and/or illness or risk losing this right. This should, of course, be done as soon as possible. The employer, by the way, has the right to select the injured employee’s doctor for treatment.

In any workers compensation matter there may already be friction of some sort between the worker and their employee. The mechanisms of workers compensation will further antagonize it. The involvement of insurance companies that all too frequently automatically assume any injured worker is exaggerating their injuries can throw more fuel on the fire.

It is vital that, when injured, you not only know and understand your full rights and benefits you know how the process is going to unfold. You need to know what to expect from your employer, doctor, physical therapist, and everyone else involved in your recovery and return to work.

If you have been injured the workplace, we urge you to contact an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer as soon as possible to ensure you protect yourself, your family, and your future.