Job Injuries (Worker’s Comp)

Useful phone numbers if you are hurt on the job

Forms and resources

What to do if you are hurt on the job

Below are some basic guidelines to follow if you are hurt on the job. The most important rule is to seek assistance from experts on workers’ compensation laws in your state. Today’s tangled and confusing workers’ compensation laws have led to financial ruin and psychological trauma for many workers, especially those with serious injuries.

Do not hesitate to call UFCW Local 371 at 203-226-4751.

Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont provide phone numbers and websites where you can have questions answered. You may also want to seek advice from a labor-friendly COSH organization. They can help you find an attorney and provide other kinds of assistance. These phone numbers and resources are listed above.

Report every injury immediately

Failure to report a work-related injury promptly is the primary reason for a workers’ compensation claim to be denied. Report all work injuries immediately, and make sure a First Report of Injury is filled out.

Initial medical treatment

Your employer will designate the doctor or facility to provide your initial medical treatment. In most cases, this will be a nearby walk-in clinic, hospital emergency room, or industrial health care facility. You are only required to get your initial treatment at this facility. If you need further treatment, you can select your own physician. If you do not select your own physician, the doctor or facility selected by your employer will become the attending physician.

Your right to choose your attending physician

After the employer provides your initial medical treatment, you have the right to choose your own attending physician. If you have a serious injury that will require extended treatment or cause you to be disabled, the Union strongly urges you to choose your own attending physician rather than continue treatment at a clinic-like facility.

If your employer has a managed medical care plan for workers’ compensation, you can select your attending physician, but the physician must be in the plan’s network. The network must include doctors in all major care specialties.

If your employer does not have a managed medical care plan for workers’ compensation, you can select any physician licensed by the State of Connecticut as your attending physician.

Once you have established an attending physician, you cannot change doctors unless:

  1. The attending physician refers you to another doctor.
  2. The insurance company grants permission for you to change doctors.
  3. The Workers’ Compensation Commissioner authorizes you to see another doctor.

Billing for medical treatment

Bills for your medical treatment should be sent by the medical provider directly to your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier, never to you. Make sure you know who that insurance carrier is and inform the doctor’s office. If you have out-of-pocket expenses for prescriptions, these must be reimbursed in full by the workers’ compensation insurance carrier.

Medical treatment and therapy

If you can continue to work but need medical treatment or therapy, this should be done during your work hours, if available, without any loss in pay. If treatment is not available during your work hours and you must go on your own time, you must be paid your usual hourly rate for the time spent receiving treatment and traveling to and from treatment. You should also be reimbursed for your travel expenses at the rate of 15 cents per mile.