INTRODUCTION
Communication is the key to limiting damage and expense but few in the compensation process stress employer communication because of the financial gains to be had from the silence, total or partial, characterizing employer participation in the majority of claims.
Nothing better illustrates this than the tolerance of the workers’ compensation system for woefully inadequate C-2s – the employer’s report of injury, mandated by law under penalty, which MUST be completed FULLY within ten (10) days of the accident. Yet nearly everyone in the workers’ compensation process has NEVER seen a fully completed C-2 and few transmitted in ten days or less.
Why is such laxity tolerated? It makes money for many people and confers power on the bureaucracy. Few attorneys in compensation can relate a single instance of a penalty assessed against an employer for failure to make a proper, timely report of injury. Few, if any, have ever requested such a penalty be made. But a much harsher penalty, in the form of soaring compensation costs is more surely collected from employers every day.
Attorneys for workers in compensation take it for granted only a small fraction of the useful and necessary information will be available to the judge at the first hearing. What follows are requests for adjournments and directions to the carrier to somehow obtain the information. The delay “builds a period,” meaning a larger award for benefits will eventually be made resulting in larger attorney fees, for both sides, and a longer and larger period and amount of reserves for the carrier – which means a higher premium.
A very different scenario plays out when the employer provides a torrent of information as soon as possible – and follows up to make sure it has been read, understood and utilized. The employer gains in the end and the honest worker benefits most in the beginning.
What follows are a number of actual cases and the consequences of silence.
Author: Attorney Theodore Ronca is a practicing lawyer from Aquebogue, NY. He is a frequent writer and speaker, and has represented employers in the areas of workers’ compensation, Social Security disability, employee disability plans and subrogation for over 30 years. Attorney Ronca can be reached at 631-722-2100.
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