OJI... Dang you LAX

[Hey.. Chill Out]

Hi guys.

A month ago, I was loading a LAX flight, noticed that my back was tight, but was not in any pain until this weekend. I am now going to a chiro, and its a 30 dollar co-pay every time I go!

Is there any OJI claim here still? I wasn't injured at the time, but now my back does hurt.

Will the company take care of the co-pays?

I have a doctors note saying that I am injured, and he will back me. I didn't go to the company clinic initially.


Thank You!

I work in fleet service.

 

[wings396]

You will need to fill out an injury report, and you do have a limited amount of time to get it done. I don't know all of the guidelines, but you can ask a union rep. to give you some facts. Given that it was 30 days ago, you may get some resistance from the company.

 

[Planemx]

I think it was 3 days to report.....

 

[avion]

Hi guys.

A month ago, I was loading a LAX flight, noticed that my back was tight, but was not in any pain until this weekend. I am now going to a chiro, and its a 30 dollar co-pay every time I go!

Is there any OJI claim here still? I wasn't injured at the time, but now my back does hurt.

Will the company take care of the co-pays?

I have a doctors note saying that I am injured, and he will back me. I didn't go to the company clinic initially.


Thank You!

I work in fleet service.

always file a precautionary OJI just in case. you never know but there is a time frame involved not sure what it is. but the company does and yes does not want people hurt on the job you need to protect yourself and this is with all corporations in this country. take care of yourself and hope all is well

 

[LD3]

And make sure you word it right....A lot of people have been denied due to the report being incorrectly written..

 

[PHL]

I'm only playing devil's advocate here...I'm not trying to be cold about this.

It sounds to me like the OP has/had back pains that worsened as he/she continued to work. This is the grey area that the company could come back and claim 'pre-existing' B.S. and say it was his/her fault for continuing to work in the face of knowing something was wrong. They'll want to know how long the back was tight, if it was the first time, any history of back pains, etc. I don't know the level of medical records they could subpoena if it got that far. I hope you don't have any prior visits to a doc for these kinds of things.

On the other hand, I have friends who worked for an insurance company as investigators of workers comp claims. They hid in a van and video taped people doing physically laborious activities, even though they were being paid for disability claims and not working. It works both ways people.

Protect yourself as much as the company needs to protect itself.

 

[lildutchgrl]

From my experience it is very hard to get them to accept a workers comp claim if you chose to go to your own doctor first. If it was written up initially you might have some ground, but with no write up and going to your own doctor, they will fight you every step of the way. I end up in the clinic constantly because I always write it up and they require me to go right then. Always better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Dog Wonder]

Go back to work, hurt your back, file a claim.

 

[hp_fa]

Any OJI does need to be reported promptly. You will also be required to see either the company doctor or a doctor specified by the company for an initial visit. However, at least in Arizona, do NOT see that doctor for a second visit or else they will become your treating doctor for the injury. If you see them a second time you will then need to file a request with the Arizona Industrial Commission to have your personal doctor become the treating doctor. The company will likely oppose this and, depending on the circumstances, it will probably take 2-3 weeks for an approval to be granted. I had an OJI and did go through this process and approval was granted. However I had a background in law and was not intimidated by the process and it still was inconvenient.

Depending on your personal circumstances it is better to have an MD or DO act as your doctor for the OJI. If that doctor believes that chiropractic will improve the situation they can refer you to that doctor for treatment and have the care covered under Workers' Comp.

I don't believe there is any chance that the company will cover your co-pays outside of Workers' Comp. Workers' Comp is a creature of law and the provisions must be met for there to be coverage.

As a practical matter Dog Wonder may have the best advice. There is a question at this point what your supervisor knows about this already because the supervisor will eventually become involved with filling out paperwork and what they know about the current situation and any future situation will potentially show up in any report.

As a practical matter a Workers' Comp attorney would be only useful if you had a significant injury and then that attorney would likely take 25% of any award. However many of the Worker's Comp attorneys do provide a free initial consultation so if it is truly a significant injury there may be benefit in discussing the matter with that attorney.

If you have some general questions you may PM me if you want.

(As full disclosure, I am not a lawyer.)