For you to collect workers’ compensation, your injury must be work-related. According to National Paralegal College, there are two criteria you must demonstrate for a work-related injury. One of these is that your injury must arise from your employment. In other words, an employment hazard must be the source and the cause of your injury.
You might think that it would be a simple matter to establish that your injury arose from your employment. It may be if your injury resulted from acute workplace trauma. However, there are circumstances in which it can be more difficult to establish that the injury arose from employment.
Repetitive stress injuries
Repetitive stress injuries do not result from a single traumatic event. Rather, they result from a series of microtrauma that has a cumulative effect over time. In the absence of a single acute injury, it can be easier for your employer or the insurance company to argue that the injury did not arise from your employment but has some other cause. Your treating physician may have to provide specific evidence showing that the injury did arise from your work.
Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
You may have an injury or illness that occurred or developed prior to your employment. The pre-existing condition may or may not have been work-related in the first place. However, if your job activities or an accident at work made it worse, then the new or worsened symptoms arose from your employment.
It can be a tricky business to determine the extent to which your current job contributed to your symptoms. Your employer may try to argue that your employment was not a factor at all.