Work injury / workers’ compensation

Capture the scene and your recovery

Report it to your employer in writing and keep a copy, however minor it seems. Note the task, the equipment, any training you had and whether the same thing had happened before. Photograph the equipment and the area before it is changed, and record every day of work missed or restricted.

Record what you know without guessing at fault. If you are unsure about something, write down that you are unsure — that is more useful later than a confident guess, and nobody expects you to have a complete account.

What tends to decide cases like this

Workers' compensation has its own rules, its own deadlines and its own forms, and they differ by state. Reporting to your employer is usually a separate step from making a claim, and doing one does not do the other. Keep a copy of anything you sign. If your employer's account of what happened differs from yours, note that difference in writing at the time rather than arguing about it later.

What can affect a claim like this

The evidence, the law that applies where it happened, the deadlines that apply to that kind of claim, and the circumstances all matter. Someone else’s result does not determine yours, and no figure on this site is a prediction for any case.

An attorney looks at how serious the injury is and how clearly it is documented, what care has been needed, whether the effects are expected to last, what income has been lost, who was responsible and what evidence shows it. Where responsibility is shared, how that is treated differs from state to state.

How to start

Choose work injury / workers' compensation in the form, add the state and city where it happened, and tell us how to reach you. It takes about a minute, nothing is sent until you press send, and you can stop at any point. Find A Tough Lawyer is a legal media and lead-generation service, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice.

Check your case factors — five questions, nothing sent

Can these settlements predict my result?

No. Any figure below is one case, reported by the source named beneath it. They are other people’s cases — not our results, not typical, and not a prediction for anyone else. What a particular claim is worth depends on the evidence, responsibility, treatment, losses, future needs, insurance and the law of that state.

Published settlement context

Every case we hold, with its source