Are You on Workers’ Compensation? Stay Off Social Media

Social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram have become incredibly popular in recent years. So popular in fact, that they have become a big part of people’s lives. For some, they are a way to make a nice side income in addition to their full-time job. For others, these platforms are a way to keep in touch with family and friends that may live a significant distance away.

However, although these sites are entertaining, and certainly even helpful in many situations, anyone that is currently receiving workers’ compensation benefits should remain off of them while receiving workers’ compensation.

How Social Media Works Against Those Collecting Workers Compensation

Workers’ compensation benefits are provided by insurance companies. Like any other insurer, their job is to retain as many of their profits as possible. Unfortunately, this means that they often deny injured workers the benefits they need.

In Pennsylvania, insurance companies are allowed to investigate anyone that makes a workers’ compensation claim, and they often do. They will not simply accept your claim that you injured yourself on the job and need benefits. Instead, insurance companies may follow you around, and even talk to your family and friends, looking for anything that contradicts what you have said about your injury. They will certainly check your social media profiles looking for posts that may also go against your claims.

Checking into a certain event or location, posting pictures of you dancing or engaging in physical activity that goes against what you have said in your claim, will all hurt your case. The insurance company will use these to prove that you are not injured, giving them a valid reason to deny your claim.

Throwback Thursdays and Flashback Fridays

Throwback Thursdays and Flashback Fridays are just two examples of how social media can hurt your claim, even if you are genuinely hurt. Even posting old pictures can be detrimental to your claim because the insurance company will refute your arguments that those pictures are old. So, if you post an older picture of you holding your two-year-old child when you have claimed that you threw your back out, it could result in a denial of benefits.

Do Not Forget the Privacy Settings

If you must continue to post to social media, make sure the privacy settings on your account are as tight as possible. Block your posts so that only your followers or friends can see them, and do not accept any new invitations. You do not know who those people are, and it could be a representative of the insurance company. Even with your privacy settings locked down, you should still try to refrain from posting on social media.

Need Help With Your Claim? Call Our Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

If you have suffered an injury at work and need help with your workers’ compensation claim, do not file it on your own. At Haggerty, Hinton & Cosgrove, LLP, our Scranton workers’ compensation lawyers can help. We know how to hold insurance companies, and your employer, accountable for paying the compensation you need when you have been hurt during a workplace accident. Call us today at 570-344-9845 to learn more about how we can help you receive the full amount of benefits you deserve.

https://www.haggertylaw.net/a-primer-on-workers-compensation-death-benefits-in-pennsylvania/