Many New Yorkers make it their entire career without suffering a serious on-the-job injury. For everyone else, it is essential to know how to file a workers’ compensation claim.
To file a claim, injured workers need to fill out and submit the proper paperwork. The correct form — Employee Claim (C-3) — can be found and filed in several ways. Workers can download a copy from the Internet, ask for one from the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board or get a copy from a district office or customer service center.
Don’t delay. In the best case, delaying can slow down or interrupt your benefits. In the worst case, it can prevent you from getting benefits at all.
Different steps are involved when a worker is killed rather than injured. In these situations, the next of kin must file a Form C-62 along with other documentation. Other documentation often includes a Form C-64, which should be filled out by the last treating physician, and a Form C-65, which should filled out by the funeral home.
Death raises several other wrinkles. For example, what happens to a widow or widower’s compensation benefits once their spouse passes? In the short run, those benefits typically stop. To get them back, the widow or widower will need to file a workers’ compensation death claim. The claim will need to show that the death was connected to an on-the-job injury. If successful, the widow or widower will begin to receive benefits again (often retroactive to the date of death).
New Yorkers who find themselves in one of these situations may benefit from discussing their situation with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney. Doing so could be essential to avoiding mistakes and problems that might slow or even stop an injured worker from receiving benefits.
Source: wcb.ny.gov, “Workers’ Compensation (On-the-Job Injury or Illness),” Accessed Jan. 27, 2015
