When an injured worker in Nevada has suffered an industrial injury, the injured worker should immediately report the accident to his or her supervisor. When it is reported, the supervisor should have the injured worker fill out a C-1 form, known as the “Notice of Injury or Occupational Disease” form. A copy of the form can be found on our “Work Comp 101" page of this website.
The injured worker should be careful when filling out this form to make sure it is accurate and complete. The form asks how the industrial accident happened, the names of any witnesses, and the body parts that were injured. The injured worker should always ask for and receive a copy of this form from their employer.
In addition, if there were any witnesses to the accident, the injured worker should obtain a statement from the witnesses. This information can be used to help the injured worker prove that they suffered an industrial injury.
Nevada law provides that there are time limits to report the injury at work to the employer. Specifically, NRS 616C.015(1) deals with the notice of injury and states, in part:
An employee or, in the event of the employee's death, one of the dependents of the employee, shall provide written notice of an injury that arose out of and in the course of employment to the employer of the employee as soon as practicable, but within 7 days after the accident.
Further, Nevada law provides, under NRS 616C.025, that an injured worker can be barred from recovering compensation under a worker’s compensation claim if the injured worker fails to file a notice of injury pursuant to NRS 616C.015 or a claim for compensation pursuant to NRS 616C.020.
However, NRS 616C.025 does provide an excuse provision. Nevada law provides that:
An insurer may excuse the failure to file a notice of injury or a claim for compensation pursuant to the provisions of this section if:
(a) The injury to the employee or another cause beyond the control of the employee prevented the employee from providing the notice or claim;
(b) The failure was caused by the employee's or dependent's mistake or ignorance of fact or of law;
(c) The failure was caused by the physical or mental inability of the employee or the dependent; or
(d) The failure was caused by fraud, misrepresentation or deceit.
So even if you have given notice after the 7 days, if your claim is denied, you can appeal the denial to the Hearings Officer of the Nevada Department of Administration and hope that the Hearings Officer will excuse the late notice.
What about oral notice of an industrial injury to an employer? That will be discussed in a future blog.
The bottom line. Make sure that when you suffer an industrial injury, that you timely report your accident to your employer. Fill out the C-1 form and request a copy of the form. Even if you think that the pain will go away, if it is not timely reported, you are giving the insurance company a reason to try and deny your worker’s compensation claim.
Yet another reason that every injured worker in Nevada should seek out and retain a qualified and experienced Nevada workers compensation attorney so that things are done properly from the beginning.
I hope that this has been helpful and informative. Please read the other blogs for more free, valuable information.
Joel A. Santos, Esq., is a Nevada worker’s compensation attorney. He is certified by the State Bar of Nevada as a Worker’s Compensation Expert and Specialist.
Copyright 2021 - Joel A. Santos, Esq.