When a worker in Rhode Island or Massachusetts is injured while on the job (or while in the “scope of employment”) and is unable to perform his or her job responsibilities, he or she is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. This means that the employer’s insurance company must pay the injured employee’s medical bills that are incurred due to the injury, and also pay the employee weekly benefits during the time that he or she cannot work.
If you are a Rhode Island or Massachusetts worker who was injured on the job, you must immediately report it to your employer. Your employer should provide you with an incident report in which you would document how you were injured. This starts the process of potentially receiving workers’ compensation benefits.
You should know that insurance companies regularly dispute the severity of employee injuries (or whether there was in fact an injury at work) to reduce the amount of money it has to pay to cover the employee’s medical bills and weekly benefits. Therefore, in many cases it is in the best interest of the injured employee to have an experienced attorney negotiate with the insurance company and litigate the case to ensure that the employee’s medical bills, which can be very expensive, are paid, and that the employee gets weekly benefits during the time that he or she is unable to work.