If you or one of your family members in Arizona has been injured in a workplace accident or developed an injury or condition due to some conditions related to a job, it will be important for you to know how and when to seek assistance from workers’ compensation. As explained by the Industrial Commission of Arizona, the state’s workers’ compensation program is deemed no-fault meaning that benefits may be received regardless of who is responsible for the injury so long as any injury was not deliberately self-inflicted.

Arizona puts a lot of onus on the injured worker when it comes to navigating workers’ compensation filings. For starters, it is the responsibility of the person who is injured to report any incident to their employer, not the responsibility of the company or a manager. The injured worker is also responsible for filing all workers’ compensation claim forms and managing the required dates to ensure all documentation is processed on time for both an initial claim and a protest of a denied claim.

If an original claim is denied, you will have 90 days to appeal or protest the decision. Benefits may include only payment of medical treatment or medical costs plus compensation for lost wages if an injury interfered with an ability to work for more than seven consecutive days.

If you would like to learn more about how to protect yourself or a family member after experiencing an injury on the job, please feel free to visit the injured employee’s rights page of our Arizona workers’ compensation website.