When you hire an attorney and move forward with legal action against your employer because you were injured on the job, no detail is too small to pass along to your legal team. While your attorney and his or her investigators will have you painstakingly go over your injury, you'll also want to provide notes on any changes between you and the employer after the injury. On their own, a couple of changes may not reveal much — but if there are several of them, they may suggest culpability to some degree. Here are some changes to watch out for.
Reduced Workload
While it's true that you might be working a reduced workload because of your injury, this isn't a concern in itself. If you're able to work at full strength, but your employer is suddenly scaling back the work that he or she offers to you, this can be an issue. Such a scenario is especially problematic if this has never happened in the past. For example, perhaps the employer has stopped handing out new sales clients to you if you work in sales, or maybe the employer has even cut down on your shifts per week.
Personal Changes
You may have shared a close bond with your employer and even the company owner prior to your injury, but things can change when it's clear that you'll be moving forward with a workers comp suit. Managers and employers may be angry with you for taking legal action, and you may notice changes in how they get along with you. For example, the company owner may have stopped by your office to say hello a few times a week, and now looks the other way when you pass. Or, your manager may have taken you and a couple of colleagues out for lunch every second Friday, but has suddenly stopped doing so.
Stalled Raise
In some cases, you may have been in the middle of discussing a salary raise at the time of your injury. Once you get back to work afterward, you'll likely be ready to continue this discussion — but you mind find yourself getting stonewalled by your manager. If the company believes that it's going to have to pay you because of a workers comp suit, it may be highly reluctant to give you a raise around the same time. If you're getting reasons for putting off the raise that seemed all but guaranteed, you'll definitely want to share this information with your attorney.
For more information, contact your local workers compensation attorneys.