Health care workers whose jobs include lifting, moving and repositioning patients often suffer from back injuries. These work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMD) can worsen over time and cause the aide or caregiver to take time off work to heal.
That means money is not earned. But bills are piling up and you can no longer pay them because you aren’t working. What to do?
Try to work through the pain?
Unfortunately, that’s the choice many people feel forced to make to keep their jobs. But at what cost to their damaged back, knees or other musculoskeletal disorders? In the long term, this short-term solution will prove to be even more costly to treat.
Filing a workers’ compensation claim
Workers’ compensation is the best option when your injury is work-related. It doesn’t have to be a recent, acute injury to make a valid claim. Back injuries have a cumulative effect that occurs over time, decades of lifting patients manually if no Hoyer lift was present.
There is an unnecessary stigma attached to the filing of a workers’ comp claim. Some companies treat their employees differently when they eventually are medically cleared to return to work. But that is illegal if the claimant has a legitimate claim to file for workers’ comp benefits.
Taking the first step
If you are unsure of what to do after a WRMD occurs, it can be very helpful to become aware of the California laws regarding workers’ compensation and labor laws in general. If your company denies your claim, you may need to take it a step further and build a strong team that can help and support you.
