Although the overwhelming majority of workers who file workers’ compensation claims are truly injured and in many cases severely injured, insurance companies view every workers’ compensation claim with a certain amount of skepticism.
Firstly, they may not believe that your injury is as severe as you say it is. Furthermore, they may not believe that you will follow the doctor’s orders and restrictions.
So, there is no doubt that when you file a workers’ compensation claim, the insurance company will look for any evidence to deny or minimize your claim.
This includes trying to catch you doing something that you shouldn’t be doing, or that you should not be able to do.
They May Be Watching!
Life goes on even after you’ve suffered an injury. The children need to be picked up from school, groceries need to be bought, and family and friends may be too busy to help you do these things.
Unfortunately, while you go about these necessary everyday tasks, you may be under surveillance by an investigator who has been hired by the insurance company to keep tabs on you.
Insurance companies sometimes hire private investigators to spy on workers who have filed a workers’ compensation claim. They check on what you are doing, take videotape of your activities, and report what they find to the insurance company.
By hiring a private investigator to observe you, the insurance company is hoping to find evidence to say that you are not as severely injured as you claim or that you are not following the doctor’s restrictions––perhaps they have videotape of you shoveling snow, lifting heavy objects around the house, or driving when you are not supposed to or should be unable to.
The insurance company will often use this information to convince your treating physician to change his or her opinion regarding what you can or cannot do. They may also use the information in court to show the judge that you are actually capable of working even though you claim that you cannot.
Make Sure You Are Always Following Doctor’s Orders
Once you have filed a workers’ compensation claim, you need to be aware that any physical capabilities you exhibit in public can have a significant impact on the outcome of your claim.
This doesn’t mean that you should be sneaky or hide anything, it means that you should be honest with your doctor from the beginning and that you should do everything you can to stay within the limits and restrictions that he or she has prescribed for your injury.
So, while you may be concerned about the insurance company hiring a private investigator to follow you, if you are staying within the limitations of your work restrictions and following the doctor’s orders, you shouldn’t have much to worry about all.
Contact A New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Attorney
There is a lot that can go wrong when filing a workers’ compensation claim. The surest way to obtain the best outcome for your case is to work with an experienced New Jersey workers’ compensation attorney. If you or someone you know has been injured on the job in New Jersey and need help filing a workers’ compensation claim, contact us today for free, no-obligation consultation.