Employers will sometimes ask or pressure employees to lie about the cause of a workplace injury. For example, they may tell an employee to tell their doctor that they were hurt while fixing the roof of their own home, when the truth is that they fell off of a roof while they were performing roofing work for their employer.
Employers often ask or pressure employees to lie about the cause of their workplace injury to avoid having their insurance premiums increased by their worker’s compensation insurance carriers. They may promise an injured employee that they will cover all medical costs, but the reality is that Employers often do not follow through on these promises, leaving disabled employees holding the medical bills and potentially harming their chances of obtaining important worker’s compensation benefits such as payments for the time off work that workers need in order to heal from workplace injuries.
Although it is always best to tell the truth consistently from the start, it is never too late to say the truth about how you were injured. Call your doctor and tell them the truth as soon as possible. It may not be too late to save you worker’s compensation case and benefits!
Below are some tips that you can consider when trying to save your case from an initial inaccurate report about how you were injured:
- Call your doctor and tell them the truth as soon as possible. Also, during your next medical visit, and thereafter, tell your medical providers the truth about how you were hurt while at work. Make sure that all the doctors that are treating you know about the true cause of your workplace injury. Tell them the date, time, place, and manner in which your workplace injury occurred.
- Recorded statements. In Wisconsin, it is legal for a person that is a party to a conversation to record a conversation that they are participating in. Ask your employer for a meeting and try to record them in a conversation where they admit that they asked or pressured you to lie about the cause of your workplace injury. And/or attempt to record them acknowledging the true cause of your workplace injury.
- Written communications. Maybe your employer has already acknowledged the true cause of your workplace injury in a text message or email. Save any such written communications to potentially present them to the judge.
- Witnesses. Maybe co-workers or your employer’s clients/customers witnessed your workplace injury. Contact any witness and ask them if they are willing to testify on your behalf.
- Payments received for no other reason than for medical treatment. Maybe your employer made some payment to you for a portion of the treatment necessary to care for your workplace injury. Save any evidence of such payments to potentially present them to the judge hearing your case.
- Photographs of the accident or of your presence at a worksite on the day of the accident. Maybe you, a co-worker, or another witness has photographic evidence of your workplace accident or of your presence at a worksite/place of the accident on the day the accident occurred. Save any such photographic evidence to potentially present it at a hearing.
