Falling Down on the Job – Reducing Costs Associated with Injured Workers

By: Denise Branch

Injured workers can not only create scheduling and coverage headaches, they can create costly worker’s compensation and litigation claims against the dealership.  To ensure that injury costs are controlled and mitigated dealers must have an established and known accident reporting protocol.  

All employees should be informed as to how and to whom they should report an at work injury. An employees’ failure to properly report an at work injury is just one of the defenses available to dealers to combat false claims of workplace injuries. Yet this defense will not be available to dealers who fail to establish a clear and known accident reporting protocol.

If an employee is injured at work, the cause and severity of the injury should be promptly documented to defend against claims of unrelated, chronic or more extensive injuries. Actual injuries should be reported to your worker’s compensation carrier for immediate processing.

How to accommodate an injured worker should be discussed with your dealer lawyer as improper handling of an injured worker’s limitations or inability to work could result in violations of state and federal law.