Typically when you are on summer vacation and you injure yourself you wouldn’t consider that injury a Connecticut workers’ compensation injury because by definition an injury must be sustained while on the job. However, are there circumstances where an injury could occur while on vacation and then lead to a workers’ compensation claim? The answer is somewhat complicated.
The best way to talk about this is to look at a possible scenario. Consider for a minute that you’re on vacation and you’re jumping off the dock at the lake and suddenly you twist the wrong way and you tweak your back. This is an injury you’ve never had before and so you don’t recognize the pain, but it puts you out for quite some time. You spend the rest of the vacation lying down and trying to recover from the pain.
When your vacation is over you are feeling much better so you can go back to work. You’re at work for a day or two and then you pick up something heavy and it tweaks your back again. Would this be considered a workplace injury?
Provided you had returned to work and your back was clearly healed before you went back to the workplace, it would be considered a workplace injury. However, if you returned to work, before the injury had fully healed and then reported it as a workplace injury, you may not be eligible to file a workers’ compensation claim.
One of the most important things you can do when you are injured in the workplace is to document what happened with your supervisor. Your employer will then choose to either pay the claim or deny the claim. If it is denied you will need to go through an appeals process where you may need an attorney to represent you.
If you were injured on vacation and then go back to work and claim that the injury happened while on the job, this may be considered workers’ compensation fraud. If you are willfully making false statements or are leaving out important information intentionally, you may be considered to be filing a fraudulent claim.
When you have been injured at the workplace, whether it is a new injury or one that has been reinjured after it had already been healed, you may be eligible to file a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim. Depending on the scenario you may want to speak with an experienced and board certified attorney who can review your claim and work with you to protect your long-term interests. If you are in need of assistance, contact our office today.
