Do you feel as though you’re being punished after filing a workers’ comp claim? You might be a victim of retaliation, and under section 176.82, you may have a separate claim.
The trouble is that no employer ever says that’s what they’re doing. They hand you a reason that sounds fine on paper.
The goal of a workers’ compensation retaliation claim in Minneapolis is showing the reason doesn’t fit. Read on to find out how it’s pursued and what you can do as soon as you suspect it.
What Counts as Retaliation, and What Doesn’t
An employer is allowed to run a business, and people do get let go while a claim is open. With that said, your employer cannot use the claim itself as the sole reason.
Fact: Your Boss Will Never Say the Real Reason Out Loud
The reason you get will be attendance, or attitude, or a slow quarter. On its own it sounds fair enough. It stops sounding fair the moment you hold it next to how the same people treated you a year ago.
Someone with clean reviews who suddenly collects three write-ups in a month has a story a judge can follow. It rarely starts with a firing, which is why you need to know the early signs of retaliation before it happens to you.
A Threat by Itself Can Carry a Case
You don’t have to lose the job. In 2014, the Minnesota Supreme Court took up a case where a boss warned a worker that filing a claim might cost him his job.
That worker was never fired at all. His case went forward anyway, and a court ordered the company to pay him $15,000 for the harm that one talk caused, plus his lawyer’s fees.
The company argued he should have used its own complaint line first, and the court held that no such defense exists here.
What to Keep in Mind Before You Pursue a Workers’ Compensation Retaliation Claim Minneapolis
Most of what decides a case happens in the weeks right after, well before anyone files a thing.
Four things come up again.
The Records from Before Your Injury Do the Heavy Lifting
Besides proof of how an injury has led to disability, you need proof of how you were before the workplace accident.
Old reviews, your usual schedule, and your discipline record all must all be in a personnel file you can ask for while things are still civil. The state’s guide for injured workers asks much the same of you on the claim side, down to saving benefit checks and noting who called.
Why Quitting Costs More Than It Solves
We get calls from people who already walked out. Do not make this mistake.
Quitting doesn’t end your wage checks on its own, whatever anyone has told you. However, it does weaken your retaliation claim since walking out disqualifies you from claiming a claim benefit refusal.
After all, there’s no “employer refusal” if you’re no longer on the payroll.
The Light Duty Offer that Can End Your Checks
An offer of lighter work is the one place were saying no can cost you for good. The pay you get while you can’t work at all is called temporary total disability. Section 176.101 stops it if you turn down work, you’re able to do in your physical condition, and once it stops this way, it never restarts. Those words about your physical condition are the whole fight.
A job only counts if your body can really do it, so we want your doctor’s written work restrictions in hand before anybody answers.
When the Checks Stop, a Clock Starts
An insurer can’t simply quit paying you. It must file a form first, called a Notice of Intention to Discontinue. From the day it is filed, you get 12 days to ask for a discontinuance conference.
That is a short hearing on whether the money is allowed to stop. Where the stated reason is your return to work, the window runs 30 days from the day you went back.
There’s also the slower route of filing an objection, which puts a judge on the calendar within 10 days.
What the Law Pays For
Section 176.82 entitles you to file two claims. One is workers’ compensation and another for being denied them or retaliation.
Filing the second is key if you want to recover damages not included in your original workers’ comp claim.
Damages: Lost Pay, Your Lawyer’s Fees, and Extra Damages
The first claim covers what they cost you, including any benefits you lost along the way. Your court costs and lawyer’s fees land on the employer’s bill rather than yours.
A court can add punitive damages on top, meaning money charged just to punish the employer. That can run up to three times the benefit you were owed even if it’s not part of your workers’ compensation payout.
When Your Employer Says There’s No Work
You can also claim damages if your employer refused to give you work after you’ve filed for workers’ comp. The pay runs from the day they refused, at the rate you earned before you got hurt, up to $15,000.
Depending on your company’s size, no insurance covers that one, so it comes out of the company’s own pocket. Contact us before you pursue your workers’ compensation retaliation claim in Minneapolis.
Where the Case Goes, and How Long You Have
A retaliation case doesn’t go to the same place as your workers’ comp claim.
The state labor department covers wages, sick time, and safety reports. Hence, a claim sent there only loses you weeks.
Rather, it belongs in district court, which is the same court that hears any other lawsuit (like civil lawsuits).
Under section 541.05, you have six years for your claim. However, a union contract can shorten it.
Being Punished for a Claim Is Its Own Case
A workers’ compensation retaliation claim in Minneapolis isn’t the same as workers’ comp claim. We handle these cases, along with workers’ comp and wrongful termination claims across Minneapolis and the Twin Cities.
We work on contingency, so nothing comes out of your pocket unless we win. Contact our law firm today to schedule a consultation and start your comeback journey.