When an employer receives notice of a work-related injury, Form C-2 must be complete and filed with the Workers Compensation Board (WCB). Normally, this must be done by the employer, who alone is in a position to discover the facts and report them accurately and promptly. New York law, however, provides for a “designee” to complete the form.
Some carriers insist on being the designee. The rationale being: If one doesn’t ask too many questions about the injury it might appear to have merit. The carrier, it is assumed, is the expert on workers comp. Who better to complete a form? Maybe not…
Since the report of injury is a legal document with hundreds of thousands of dollars in consequences and may affect the very future of an injured worker and the family, the best person to complete the form is someone on the spot who knows the facts and wants to remain in control of business operations and obligations. When the employer loses control of the first report of injury (FROI) it has lost control of the claim and its own business.
FROI by proxy generally works as follows:
- An employer, by any number of ways, learns there may be a work-related injury or illness.
- The employer goes to the carrier’s website and answers a number of questions about the incident. The answers do not complete the injury report. The computer then takes the various answers and puts them into a C-2 form. The carrier arranges for a signature on the C-2 and files it (by e-filing) with the WCB and copies the employer.
This seems simple and appropriate but, in fact, it contains deadly assumptions and pitfalls.
First, who actually at the carrier is reading the material and making sure it meets minimum standards?
Second, what if the carrier doesn’t follow up on deficient information?
It is generally assumed that nearly all C-2s are correctly filled out and only a few exceptions actually fall between the cracks. In fact, only a few percent are correctly completed. Vital information, if not provided by the employer, is ignored, leading to unnecessary litigation, hearings, and costs. In addition, the honest employee is damaged even more.
A highly accurate first report is all that separates an employer and an employee from financial disaster. Even if matters are finally resolved, the process takes years at the WCB – years during which a family may be cut off from meaningful support. Or, equally likely, an unworthy claim which could have been put to rest at the start, is eventually “settled” for “nuisance value.” When the employer gets the bill – in higher x-mods – it will be a lot more deadly than mere nuisance. Unwarranted workers comp claims costs destroys jobs.
If an employer fails to provide sufficient information in a first report to get and keep a claim on the right track and receives no follow-up from a carrier, it is time to rethink reporting procedures. (WCxKit)
Author Attorney Theodore Ronca is a practicing lawyer from Aquebogue, New York. 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. Mr. Ronca has 21 years experience in searching and retrieving medical records and many other types of documents for defense of workers compensation claims. Contact Attorney Ronca at 631-722-2100 or [email protected]
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