If you get injured on the job, the general advice is to report it to your supervisor as soon as you can. If it’s severe enough that you need to go to the hospital, of course, they’re going to know anyway. But many injuries are not that severe. Less severe injuries require you to make sure your company knows what happened, and you want to file an official report even if you consider the accident to be obvious in nature.
Why is it so important to do this? It can help you get the workers’ comp benefits that you deserve.
What does the Department of Industrial Relations say?
In terms of timing, the branch of the California government known as the Department of Industrial Relations notes that accidents and injuries should be reported as soon as possible or as soon as you know the issue is related to work.
The first reason for this is that you need medical attention and you want to create an official record of what happened. This can help when filing your workers’ comp claim because it makes the chain of events clear.
Secondly, it helps you avoid confusion and some types of disputes. For instance, employers sometimes move to deny claims when they believe that the worker got injured at home, not on the job. If you try to go home and “sleep it off” and then file your claim the following day, are they going to be more likely to say you must have been injured at home than if you file it the same day it happens?
As you work to get everything in order, make sure you know what official steps to take and what rights you have as an employee as you pursue the compensation that you’re due.