The initial report of your injury is very important!

I received a Deputy Commissioner decision earlier this month in which my client injured his left shoulder at work on the day before Thanksgiving.  He did not give his employer a written notice of the injury until he returned to work on Monday after the 4 day holiday.   That 4 day delay was not a problem, but the fact that he wrote up the injury as to his “right shoulder” sure did turn out to be a problem!  This discrepancy, combined with some self-serving testimony from his former boss, resulted in a decision that my client was “not credible.”  In other words, he lost his case in part because he was a little bit careless in how he wrote up the incident report when he reported it to his employer.    Let that be a lesson to you!   If you do get hurt at work, call Bob Bollinger for a free consultation before you fill out the report.  He can walk you through it so that you do not make a careless mistake that causes you to lose the case.