Injury reporting requirements in Arizona

Mustang · October 2005

We have an employee in our Arizona plant claiming he sustained an injury about 10 months ago. It has been unreported until now. He now wants us to pay chiropractor bills for the past 10 months. What is the reporting requirement for work related injuries in Arizona?

dixied · October 2005

I don't know what reporting requirements in Arizona are, but I would submit it to your workers comp. carrier and let them handle it. It removes you from the middle of the situation. We, as employers, don't determine if the injury is compensible or not. Let your carrier earn their money.
If you have a company policy that requires reporting injuries immediately, you may want to use the progressive discipline route.

dd

Mustang · October 2005

Thanks, but we self-insure. Progressive discipline is fine, but does not generally relieve the employer of responsibility for payment.

hhaynal · October 2005

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 10-19-05 AT 07:06AM (CST)[/font][br][br]My understanding is that there is no specific time frame for reporting a work-related incident to your worker's comp carrier, but that the delay can be a factor in rejecting the claim.

We are also self-insured and on the rare occasion that an employee has claimed a work-related incident many, many months after an alleged incident date, the company proceeds with its normal internal investigation to determine whether the injury suffered was work related. If deemed a work related injury, we proceed with the normal reporting requirements and forward the claim on to our WC carrier with a note reflecting our objection to the claim based on the long delay factor. The carrier then conducts its investigation and a determination is made. There was one occasion where the company flatly rejected the claim based solely upon the delay in reporting of the incident.

Also, company policy states that injuries are to be timely reported and failure to do so may lead to disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Hope this helps.

H

P.S. We have a site location in Arizona. (-:

marc · October 2005

Even self insured companies in Nevada must post a notice regarding workers comp. Our notice says the accident must be reported within 90 days. Those that are not are regularly denied by the carrier - in this case, your company.

Workers can appeal to the Labor Commission and there is a whole process to go through where each side gets to present facts and a decision is made regarding the claim. I have not had a lot of depth with this process, but it is my understanding that they uphold the 90 day rule quire regularly.

So, call AZ's equivalent of the Labor Commission and see what they say about the time period. But also check around your bulletin boards, you may (should) have a poster up explaining WC rights to the workforce.

Open1 · October 2005

90 days in NV? I thought it was 7.

[url]http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-617.html#NRS617Sec1665[/url]

" NRS 617.342 Notice of occupational disease: Requirements; availability of form; retention.

1. An employee or, in the event of the employee’s death, one of his dependents, shall provide written notice of an occupational disease for which compensation is payable under this chapter to the employer of the employee as soon as practicable, but within 7 days after the employee or dependent has knowledge of the disability and its relationship to the employee’s employment.
"

marc · October 2005

The 7 days is the time frame to report the claim to the ER. If medical treatment is sought, the C-4 form is generated - the 90 days has to do with filing the completed C-4, which is the paperwork that gets to the WC carrier.

Injury reporting requirements in Arizona

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