California employees who work in some very different industries can wind up with the same diagnosis for their workplace injuries. For instance, cumulative trauma injuries are quite common in the manufacturing field — but they also develop in office workers, too.
The main challenge with these kinds of worker’s compensation cases is establishing that your repetitive stress injury diagnosis is directly linked to the job duties you performed. Unlike a broken leg from a fall on a slippery work floor, a diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome from years of repetitive on-the-job tasks can be trickier to establish.
California is on the side of the worker
We live in a state that is very friendly to workers. It’s far less difficult here to be awarded benefits for cumulative trauma injuries than in a state like Louisiana that only acknowledges cumulative trauma in workers suffering from occupational illnesses.
Documenting your CT injury date
Again, California gives its workers far more leeway here than in most other states. Without a specific injury date to go by, all claims filed under California Labor Code 5412 are based upon “that date upon which the employee first suffered disability therefrom and either knew, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known, that such disability was caused by his present or prior employment.”
Filing a claim for your repetitive trauma injuries?
Learning what the law requires of claimants diagnosed with cumulative trauma can help your claim get approved and settled as quickly as possible. Don’t be afraid to fight for the workers’ compensation benefits to which you are entitled after a workplace injury.