I injured my back at work & I then missed 3 shifts due to pain....?

Question

I had pulled open a drawer to this cart, was bending over it and heard a SNAP! or a POP! Then I had severe pain in the left side of my lower back, right next to my spine. I went down (I felt extremely dizzy and nauseated) onto my knees, then I slowly made it over to my butt. I pushed myself up with my arms to keep the weight off my spine. I could barely move due to the severe pain. My coworkers called 911 and I was quickly treated at the hospital and released. As a result, I missed 3 shifts, (this happened on a saturday night shift) Monday- day shift, tuesday night shift, and wednesday day shift. I was able to return to work friday, but i was still pretty sore. I didn't have many sick days I could take.

Am I elegible for any workmans compensation? I'm not interested in getting free money, I just want to be paid for those 3 shifts that I missed although it wasn't my fault.

nothing like this has ever happened before, I haven't had any injuries or illnesses (other than occasional cold/ flu, etc).

Answer 1

No, in TX you have to be off work for over 7 days and they won't pay you until 2 weeks later.  But they should be paying your dr. bills.  sorry.

Answer 2

Heh! you got injured at work! The company should pay you for those days!1 HOW DO YOU KNOW IF THIS INJURY HASN'T FINISHED WITH YOU YET?   I got hurt on the job, and please don't laugh, but I got knocked out by a Kotex machine in the ladies bathroom! Caught the back of my neck! When I came to, I told my boss they had vicious kotex machines, and (I was the only woman on the shift!) they all trouped down there to look see! About fifteen minutes later, I started to loose my balance, so they sent me home.  Next day I wasn't any better and my boss took me to the doctors - needless to say, everybody except me had a good laugh over my injury! Anyway, I went back to work, but the pain kept on and on - four years go by and it got so bad, I had to have surgery - which was another nine months being laid up! So! you see, things could start happening later on, especially with your back or spine! See how you feel, and if it doesn't get better and you have to go out sick again, THEN use your Workmans compensation!!  As long as the company doesn't fire you, don't worry about those three days - if you start feeling bad again, tell your supervisor you need more time to recuperate! If they refuse you, you can sue them!,  

Answer 3

A report should have been filed immediately following the instance, and as it happened at work your supervisor should have already filed an incidence report, but you could go ahead and file a claim now.

In most states you will not be paid for the first 7 days you are off work unless you off off of work over 21 days, but work comp. might cover your medical bills and provided you had a doctor slip to be off the 3 days, it might not count against you as far as occurrences from work if it is determined to be a work related injury.  

Only downside to filing would be if you were not bending properly or doing something else that would be against safety standards to cause the injury, then you might find yourself written up.

If you employer has short-term disability you could try filing the claim as an injury due to an accident, as most polices do not start benefits for the first 5 business days following a disability period (normally that is what sick days/PTO is for), unless the injury is due to an accident, and then benefits would begin on the first day.