Timeline of Charleston South Carolina Workers' Compensation Cases

Delays Could Jeopardize Your South Carolina Workers' Compensation Claim

You'll likely lose your right to benefits if you miss the reporting or filing deadline. If you don't miss the deadlines but wait until the last minute to report or file, your employer's insurance company can cite your delay as evidence that your injury is not work-related or that you're not as badly hurt as you claim. 

Other Ways Insurers Avoid Paying Workers' Compensation Benefits

If your injury is severe enough to require expensive medical treatment and a long recovery time, there's a good chance that your employer or the insurance company will look for ways to avoid paying your claim. The insurer's tactics might include:

• Contending that your injury is not work-related
• Accusing you of injuring yourself intentionally
• Purposely delaying the progress of your claim

When You Will Get Workers' Compensation Benefits

If your employer or the insurer doesn't dispute your workers' comp claim, you can start receiving workers' compensation payments as soon as seven days after you file. If you're off work for 14 days or more, you should receive workers' compensation benefits that are retroactive to the date of your workplace injuries. Those benefits should then continue until the doctor releases you to return to work.

South Carolina Workers' Compensation Appeal Deadlines

There are even more deadlines to be aware of if you appeal a denied workers' compensation claim to one or more of the five levels available to you:

• Informal conference
• SCWCC hearing
• Commission review
• South Carolina Court of Appeals
• South Carolina Supreme Court

You typically have 14 or 30 days to file an appeal, depending on the level of appeal. Procedural requirements must be met at each level. Failure to meet them can mean failure to collect the benefits you need.

How a Charleston SC Workers' Compensation Lawyer Can Help You

The best way to ensure that your claim proceeds in a timely fashion is to consult an experienced workers' comp attorney. Our workers' compensation attorneys know how to counter the employer's or insurer's attempts to delay, dispute, or deny your claim. Your attorney can organize and present your medical evidence, request an independent medical exam by another doctor, call in an expert witness or a vocational specialist to strengthen your claim, represent you at your conference or hearing, and take your case to the South Carolina Court of Appeals if necessary. Simply knowing that you have a Charleston workers' compensation attorney will make the employer and insurer take your case seriously and handle it promptly. 

Exceptions to the Statute of Limitations Following a Charleston Workers' Compensation Claim

In general, if you fail to report your injury to your employer within 90 days or file your workers' comp claim within two years, the statute of limitations will run out, your claim will be barred, and you will receive no benefits. There are, however, some exceptions to these deadlines.

Repetitive Trauma Injuries

Unlike most work-related injuries, which occur on a particular date when an accident happens, repetitive trauma injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, back trouble, or hearing loss develop over time. If you suffer this kind of injury, you have 90 days from the time you know that you have the condition to report it and two years from that time to file your workers' comp claim—as long as it has been no more than seven years since you were last exposed to repetitive trauma at work.

Occupational Diseases

Asbestosis, dermatitis, knee, elbow, and shoulder conditions, and other such diseases also develop over time, so you cannot report them until you know about them. Once you've been diagnosed with such a disease, you must report it within 90 days and file your workers' comp claim within the two-year statute of limitations.

Employer's Knowledge

If it is clear that your employer knows about your accident and injury, you have no duty to report it, but you still have only two years to file your claim.

Injured Minors

If you are under 18 when you sustain your injury, the statute of limitations "tolls" or pauses until your 18th birthday, after which you have two years to file your claim.

Physical or Mental Disability

If you are unable to report your injury because of physical or mental disability, the statute of limitations tolls until you are able to do so or until you pass away. Then, either you or your surviving family members have two years to file a claim.  

Death Claims

If a worker dies as a result of a fatal workplace accident or disease, surviving family members do not have to report the death within 90 days to receive death benefits. However, they have to file a workers' comp death claim within the two-year statute of limitations. If the employee is given a diagnosis of a terminal condition weeks or months before passing away, the statute might not toll, so you should report a fatal diagnosis to the employer soon after it's received.

South Carolina No-Fault Workers' Compensation Claims Accompanied by Personal Injury Lawsuits  

A workers' compensation claim does not have to prove any wrongdoing or negligence by the employer. The injured worker can receive benefits regardless of who was at fault for the accident. In some cases, though, a negligent third party might be involved. For example, if a truck driver is injured in an accident caused by a negligent driver who has no connection to the trucking company, the trucker has three years to sue that negligent driver, but the statute of limitations for the workers' comp claim is still just two years. 

How to Keep Your Claim Moving: 7 Things to Do as Soon as Possible After a Charleston Work Injury

As soon as possible after you sustain your accidental work-related injury or are diagnosed with an occupational illness, you should take the following steps to maximize your chances of a successful South Carolina workers' comp claim:

• Submit a written report to your boss or whoever deals with workers' comp claims at your workplace. 
• If your employer doesn't file a claim for you with the SCWCC, you should do so by submitting Form 50, which you can find on the SCWCC website. 
• Your employer's insurance company should have a list of certified doctors and recommend one of them for you to see. Seek medical treatment right away. You may not just go to your own family doctor. Doing so could affect your claim negatively.
• Keep all appointments with the recommended doctor and any health care providers to whom you're sent.
• Follow the doctor's treatment guidelines and take any medication exactly as prescribed.
• Keep all receipts and records of your medical appointments, treatments, and prescriptions.
• Contact our experienced Charleston workers' compensation lawyers for a consultation about your claim.