Accidents aren’t the only way you can get hurt on the job. You can also contract a disease that impairs your ability to continue working.
New York workers’ compensation makes provisions for these occupational diseases.
Here’s what you need to know.
Examples of Occupational Diseases
Examples include:
- Repetitive stress injuries, like carpal tunnel.
- Respiratory diseases.
- Musculoskeletal injuries.
- Cancer.
- Hearing loss.
- Infectious diseases.
- Mental health disorders.
You must be able to prove the disease arose from your employment. This is why so many employers have been able to sidestep Covid-19 claims. A cancer claim that ties directly to a chemical you’re exposed to on the job, and only on the job, is a lot stronger than a Covid claim where the disease could have been contracted almost anywhere. It’s not impossible to claim for Covid, but it’s harder.
Steps to Take if You’re Suffering from an Occupational Disease
The steps you’d take for an occupational disease claim are similar to those for an injury.
- Notify your employer.
- File Form C-3 for work-related occupational disease as soon as you know that you have the disease and that it’s probably the result of work.
- See an approved doctor and begin following the doctor’s instructions. Be sure to tell the doctor you believe you contracted the occupational disease while at work.
Be ready to call a firm like ours. Employers tend to fight occupational disease claims because they’re easier to fight than occupational injury claims. The workers’ comp insurance company will try to get out of paying you if they can.
“Date of Injury”
The date of injury is important in a workers’ compensation case. In an occupational disease case, the date of your injury will be when you were diagnosed or informed that the disease was work-related.
This could have been your doctor’s diagnosis during a routine physical, but you’ll still need to see the Board-approved doctor after reporting the illness to your employer.
Get Help Today
Call our law office if you’re having trouble claiming workers’ compensation for an occupational disease. We will be happy to review the facts of your case and discuss next steps with you. We can help you gather evidence showing that the disease arose during your employment and should be compensated.
Contact us to get started today.
See also:
A Primer on Covid Workers’ Comp Claims for Frontline Workers