Resources for Injured Employees

There are certain steps you must take if you are injured at work:

You must tell your employer (which can mean a supervisor or someone from management) that you were injured within 60 days of the injury.

•If your employer has selected a health care provider, you must go to your employer's health care provider for the first ten days of treatment.
•If you want to change health care providers after the first ten days, you must tell your employer that you are going to do that, and tell them who the new health care provider is.

When you tell your employer you have been injured at work your employer must:

• Fill out a First Report of Injury and give you a copy.
• Pay your claim for lost time within fourteen days; or,
• Send a Notice of Controversy to you and to the Workers' Compensation Board if your employer does not want to pay your medical bills and/or lost time benefits.

If there is a dispute about whether your employer must pay your claim:

• A Troubleshooter will contact you and try to resolve the dispute.
• If the Troubleshooter cannot resolve the dispute, a mediation will be held.
• If mediation does not resolve the dispute, you may request a formal hearing.

Qualified injured workers are entitled to the services of a Worker Advocate. The Worker Advocate Program provides legal representation without cost to injured workers pursuing claims before the Workers’ Compensation Board. In order for an injured worker to qualify to receive assistance, the injury must have occurred on or after January 1, 1993; the worker must have participated in the Board’s troubleshooter program; the worker must not have informally resolved the dispute; and finally, the worker must not have retained private legal counsel.