Don't Let Social Media Compromise Your Workers' Compensation Claim

An injury at work can create serious complications in the life of an employee. Some injuries leave employees without the ability to perform their job duties effectively, resulting in a loss of the workers' ability to generate a stable income. Workers' compensation claims are designed to help provide financial compensation for injuries while an employee heals.

Filing a workers' compensation claim opens you up to extreme scrutiny. Your employer's insurance company may conduct a full investigation when verifying your injury claim. This investigation will include an examination of your social media accounts.

You don't want to let your social media pages compromise your workers' compensation claim, so avoid posting about the following topics while your claim is being evaluated.

Travel

The last thing you want to do is let the insurance company know that you are feeling well enough to travel. Even if the trip is to see your children or visit a medical specialist, a long-distance trip could compromise your access to funds through a workers' compensation claim.

The insurance company can argue that if you are well enough to travel you are well enough to work. This argument could result in the denial of your claim and a loss of financial assistance as you try to heal from your work-related injury.

Big Purchases

You will want to avoid making extravagant purchases while you are receiving workers' compensation benefits. Any large purchase that the insurance company discovers could compromise your access to financial help.

Workers' compensation funds are designed to cover your basic living expenses until you can return to work. If you post photos of your new television, ATV, or furniture set on social media sites, the insurance company will have the evidence needed to argue that you are receiving too much assistance.

Home Renovations

You will probably have a lot of downtime while you are recovering from your work-related injury. This downtime could allow you to oversee the remodeling of your home or some similar involved activity.

It's important that you don't post pictures of home renovations or similar laborious activities on social media. The insurance company could argue that you are violating the terms of your workers' compensation claim by performing manual labor.

It's also best to avoid investing in something expensive, like home renovations, while you are on workers' compensation, since private investigators will probably be keeping tabs on you at your personal residence as well as checking social media accounts for inconsistencies.

Work with an experienced workers compensation attorney and monitor your social media activity so that you don't limit the amount of assistance you are eligible to receive through your employer's workers' compensation fund.

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