What to do when you are injured on the job in Florida

Florida law requires that an employee report an on the job injury or accident to his or her employer within 30 days of the accident.  Waiting and delaying the report of your on the job accident may jeopardize your ability to receive benefits under Florida’s Workers Compensation Act.

The law specifically states:

440.185 Notice of injury or death; reports; penalties for violations.—

(1) An employee who suffers an injury arising out of and in the course of employment shall advise his or her employer of the injury within 30 days after the date of or initial manifestation of the injury. Failure to so advise the employer shall bar a petition under this chapter unless:

a) The employer or the employer’s agent had actual knowledge of the injury;

(b) The cause of the injury could not be identified without a medical opinion and the employee advised the employer within 30 days after obtaining a medical opinion indicating that the injury arose out of and in the course of employment;

c) The employer did not put its employees on notice of the requirements of this section by posting notice pursuant to s. 440.055; or

d) Exceptional circumstances, outside the scope of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) justify such failure.

Do not rely on the exceptions to the 30 day reporting requirement.  When in doubt report the accident to your supervisor or employer.  Again, not doing so will provide your employer and the workers compensation insurance company a defense that you failed to timely report the accident.

If you would like to schedule a FREE no obligation consultation contact Howell, Buchan & Strong law firm at 850-877-7776.  We’ve been handling Florida workers compensation cases since 1994.