The North Carolina Workers’
Compensation Act has strict guidelines regarding
the reporting of work injuries. When a claim is
denied, more often than not one of the reasons
cited by the insurance company for the denial
is the failure of the employee to timely report
the injury. By understanding and complying with
the reporting requirements, an employee can avoid
the long legal process of proving that the injury
entitles him to compensation from his employer.
The Workers’ Compensation
Act (G.S. Section 97-22) states that “every
injured employee . . . shall immediately on the
occurrence of an accident, or as soon thereafter
as practicable, give . . . to the employer a written
notice of the accident. . . .” While the
Act calls for written notice, if the employee
immediately reports the injury verbally to his
supervisor, he has satisfied the reporting requirements.
The purpose of this notice requirement
is to allow the employer to provide immediate
medical treatment and to investigate the facts
surrounding the injury. When the employee fails
to immediately report the injury verbally or in
writing, the employer and/or insurance company
often suspect that the injury occurred outside
of work. Therefore, it is very important that
the employee report the injury to his supervisor
immediately, regardless of how minor it may seem
at the time.
If the employee fails to give notice
of his injury immediately, he is not entitled
to medical treatment or compensation through his
employer until he does give notice to the employer.
If, however, he does not give written notice of
his injury within 30 days of the accident, his
claim can be barred altogether, unless he is able
to show that he had a reasonable excuse for failing
to give notice, and that the employer was not
prejudiced in its efforts to investigate the claim
or direct the medical treatment by the employee’s
failure to report the injury.
It is often difficult to prove a
reasonable excuse for failing to report an injury.
To avoid these pitfalls, it is always best for
the injured worker to go directly to the supervisor
and make a specific report of injury, even if
immediate medical attention is not required.
In North Carolina,
in addition to reporting an injury to the employer,
the employee also needs to report the injury to
the Industrial Commission, on a Form 18. The employer
will file its own report of injury on a Form 19,
but the employer will not file a Form 18 for the
employee. The employee must file that form. Failure
to file the Form 18 with the Industrial Commission
within two years of the date of injury can result
in outright denial of a workers’ compensation claim. A Form 18 may be obtained from the Industrial
Commission, or by calling our office at 1-800-662-1234.
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