Workers Comp and Your Repetitive Stress Injury: How a Workers Compensation Lawyer Can Help

When an employer hires a worker, generally that employer must purchase workers compensation insurance to provide protection for that individual in case he becomes injured on the job. Although employers pay for workers compensation insurance premiums, the purpose of the insurance is to pay medical costs, lost wages, and disability benefits to a worker when a work-related injury occurs.

Workers compensation is intended to provide extensive protection to workers, so legislatures have made the workers comp system a strict liability system. This means a worker is covered and can get workers compensation benefits for an injury even in the absence of any employer negligence leading to the injury. However, a worker is still going to need to prove that his condition or injury is work related.

Sometimes, it is very obvious that an injury is work-related. When a construction worker is climbing a ladder to hang a window on the job site and he falls off that ladder, for example, it is pretty clear that he was hanging the window because it was his job and that his injury happened because he was hanging the window.

In other cases, however, it is difficult to prove definitively that an injury is work related and occurred because of a required work task. This is especially true with repetitive stress injuries.  When a worker attempts to get disability benefits as a result of a repetitive stress injury, it becomes absolutely essential to seek help from an experienced workers compensation lawyer.

Repetitive stress injuries are usually defined as injuries to the soft tissue, ligaments, joints and muscles of the body. These injuries happen because the body does the same motions or actions over and over again, constantly taxing the muscles, joints and ligaments in one or more parts of his body. Over time, this can cause damage that leads to pain, discomfort, restricted motion or even partial or total disability.

When this happens, the worker should be entitled to payment for the medical costs of treating his repetitive stress injury. If he misses work, has his earning capacity reduced or is rendered totally disabled because of his repetitive stress injury, he should be compensated for any resulting financial loss through workers compensation.

The Challenge of Proving Eligibility

Unfortunately, since repetitive stress injuries develop over time instead of all at once after an accident, it can be hard to conclusively prove their root cause. This means an employer may challenge the fact that the injury actually developed because of work, in order to try to avoid paying benefits.

In such cases, an experienced workers compensation lawyer will help to prove that the injury truly was work-related and caused as a result of work.

Getting Legal Help

Consulting with a workers compensation lawyer as soon as a repetitive stress injury develops is a good idea. The workers compensation lawyer will assist in gathering evidence and building a very strong case to prove that the payment of benefits is appropriate.