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Under Georgia law, an injured worker is required to give notice of his/her injury to the employer within 30 days of the work injury. While the legal requirement is that the notice should be given in writing, as a practical matter, it ofttentimes is only given verbally. Failure by the employee to give proper notice can result in the claim being barred. On the defense side, is it often said that if all you have is a notice defense, you have no defense. While this is true, I have seen many claims end up needlessly in litigation simply because the employee either did not report the injury, or when they did report it, the neglected to report it as a work-related injury, and instead reported it as an old medical problem that had simply reoccurred without cause. I am currently involved in several cases where the employer has questioned the existence of a work injury because the employee did not report the injury as work-related. In one case, the employee told me she feared losing her job if she reported it as a work injury. Once the employer found out she was hurt, can you guess what happened to her? If you guessed she was fired, you guessed correctly. She lost her job, anyway. The injured employee should always truthfully report the circumstances of a work injury. Even if the employer terminates the employee for it, there are remedies for the employee and consequences for the employer for doing so which often work out to the employee's benefit. If you have questions about workers compensation law, or if you have been hurt on the job, please contact me. Thanks, and have a great day. BGS
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