If you’re working in Maryland, you may get injured in the course of your work. To protect employees like you, Maryland law requires employers in the state to have workers’ compensation insurance for their staff. Every employer in Maryland with one employee or more is expected to insure their workers.

The law excludes employers from workers’ comp requirements if they operate in the agricultural sector and have less than three employees or an annual payroll of less than $15,000. If you have suffered any work-related injuries, it will help if you hired a worker’s compensation attorney in Maryland to protect your interests.

What Injuries are Covered Under Maryland Workers Compensation?

Not all injuries can get you compensated in Maryland. For you to receive compensation, you must suffer an accidental personal injury or an occupational disease. This classification means that you must have been wounded during your employment.

You will also be covered if your injury is caused by a third party’s willful or negligent act during your work. Similarly, an occupational disease is one contracted because of and in the course of employment and incapacitates the employee temporarily or permanently, totally, or partially.

For you to receive worker’s comp in Maryland, your injury must have occurred in the “course of employment,” so the implication of this phrase ought to be understood. It means that the injury arose due to the employee’s working conditions and when they were doing their job. Outside of these defined terms, an injured employee may not receive any compensation.

Notice of the Injury

If you get injured on the job in Maryland, the first thing you have to do is report your injury to your employer. You have only ten days from when you got injured to inform your employer either orally or in writing. If it is a disease, you or your family have one year from discovering the illness to notify your employer.

A written notice of injury must contain your name and address. Then you will have to give vital details of the injury, such as the time, place, nature, and cause of the injury. Finally, you must sign the written notice or have someone else sign on your behalf.

Failure to report your injury or illness within the specified timeframe may disqualify you from receiving any compensation. Under certain circumstances, though, the requirement to give notice may be deemed to have been waived by the employer.

The Workers Compensation Commission may also excuse not giving information where there’s sufficient reason for the failure or the lack of notice prejudiced neither the employer nor its insurer.

Filing Your Claim Before the Commission

The body responsible for hearing workers’ comp claims in Maryland is the Maryland Workers Compensation Commission (WCC). Filing a claim before the WCC isn’t the same as giving notice of your work-related injury to your employer.

You don’t have forever to file your claim before the WCC. For accidental personal injuries, Maryland employees have sixty days after the injury date to file a claim before the Commission. If the accident results in death, the employee’s family has eighteen months after the death to file their claim.

If it is an occupational disease, the wounded employee is expected to file a claim with the Commission within two years. In the case of an occupational illness, either you or your family can file the claim. If your condition is pulmonary dust disease, you or your family have three years to file your claim.

If you are disabled because of an injury from ionizing radiation, you have two years to file your claim with the Commission. There are instances where fraud prevents you from filing your claim on time.

In such a case, you must then bring your claim within one year of discovering the fraud. Finally, if you don’t file your claim after two years from the date of your injury, your claim will be barred. So, ensure you stick to the specified timeframes.

Hurt on the Job in Maryland? Let Pinder Plotkin Assist You!

Suppose you have been injured while at work in Maryland; then you should receive compensation for your injuries. Indeed, you don’t have to hire a lawyer to receive your worker’s comp. However, it is advisable to hire a worker’s compensation attorney in Maryland.

It would be best if you had a lawyer because employers in Maryland and their insurance companies often look for ways to escape paying workers comp to injured employees. But with us representing you through the process, you can be guaranteed that you will receive the compensation due to you. So, call us today for a free consultation on your case.

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