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Accessing Your Vermont Worker’s Compensation Benefits

While working in Vermont, you may have fallen and suffered broken bones, back and neck injuries, ligament injuries, head trauma, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputation injuries, or paralysis. After the initial shock of the accident and dealing with your injuries, you may be wondering how you are going to get compensated for your medical bills and time away from work.

The answer is a Vermont workers' compensation claim. Vermont law required most employers to have workers' compensation coverage. There are some exceptions which do not typically have coverage:

• Casual work, such as babysitting and mowing the lawn
• Farmers with less than $10,000 yearly payroll
• Unincorporated sole-proprietors/partners
• Family members of unincorporated employer if living in the same home
• Corporate Officers who have exclusion approval
• Elected officials
• Real estate salesperson or broker working on commission
• Work in a private dwelling

If your job is not listed on the above list, then your employer more than likely has workers' compensation coverage. So, how do you access the benefits?

First, it is important to get the medical care that you need and to tell your doctor that you were hurt at work. Next, you should inform your employer about the work injury, and your employer has 72 hours to report an injury that results in time off of work or in medical care. If your employer does not give you a copy of the injury report that they file, you can request one and/or call the Workers' Compensation office to report your work injury in Vermont.

The workers' compensation claim will be reviewed by your employer's insurance company and will depend on the seriousness of your injury and if it affects your ability to continue to work. If approved, you will start receiving benefits within a few weeks; however, sometimes Vermont workers' compensation claims are denied.

If your workers' compensation claim is denied, you need to find out why it was denied. Ask them for their reasons for denial. Some common reasons claims are denied include:

• You were not injured at work
• You were not an employee
• You had the injury prior to work
• The injury was not reported immediately
• The injury occurred as a result of fooling around

If your claim was denied and you believe your claim should be approved, call us to discuss your claim so that we can determine if you do have a right to financial compensation. If you were injured at work in Vermont, call a knowledgeable Vermont workers' compensation attorney at the Law Office of Charles Powell to talk about your potential claim in a free, no-obligation discussion of your case at 877-295-7773.