Jan 30, 2019

Should I Return to Work Early After a Workplace Injury?

If you have suffered a workplace injury, your doctor might tell you to
take a specific amount of time off in order to make the best possible
recovery from injury. While might enjoy having time off at first, the
thought of returning to work could make you feel excited. However, this
could result in wanting to come back sooner than anticipated. Even though
the goal is to get back to work, you don’t want to rush the healing
process because you are bored at home.

The following are several reasons why you shouldn’t return to work
early after an on-the-job injury:

• You could re-injure yourself – When a person’s health improves following an injury, perhaps
  earlier in the timeline than expected, it is quite tempting to return
  to work and better provide for your family. Yet, your doctor advised you
  to take a specific amount of time off for a reason. If you decide to return
  to work early, you could risk re-injury because you didn’t take
  enough time to completely heal.
• You have rights to protect yourself from your employer – In some cases, employers want injured employees to return to work
  earlier than expected. However, employers are prohibited from asking employees
  to come back to work or make termination threats against your doctor’s
  recommendations. In addition, people are afraid of losing their job to
  someone else while they’re away, prompting them to return to work
  sooner than expected. Remember, there are laws which provide job security
  to injured workers.
• Your workers’ compensation benefits could be denied – If you return to work early, your employer or workers’ comp
  insurance company could claim that you weren’t actually hurt in
  the first place or your injury wasn’t as serious as you originally claimed.

At
The Law Offices of Nathaniel F. Hansford, we understand that returning to work is your top priority. However, our
Atlanta workers’ compensation attorney recommends you not to go
back too soon, based on the reasons we mentioned above.

If you experienced issues with your worker’s comp claim in Atlanta,
contact us and request a free consultation today.