Q: I was working at a local plant when I stepped into an open drain. The grate was removed, and I fell and hurt my knees and my hips. My whole body, including my back, was jarred. This happened in September of 2009. Now my back is acting up and has been bothering me ever since the accident. I did not miss any work, and I did not receive any temporary total disability benefits from my employer. My employer has a physician that comes by the plant from time to time, and they filled out a first report of injury, and they have treated my knee. Now that I am telling them that my back is bothering me, they are telling me that I never reported my back injury, and so they are not going to cover my back injury; and I no longer work there. What can I do?

Jeremy, Cherokee, AL

A: The two year statute of limitations in your case ran two years from the date of your injury. Had you been taken off at any point during that two years for surgery and paid temporary total disability benefits during the period of time that you were recovering from surgery as a result of this specific on the job injury, that would have extended your statute of limitations, but in this case, based on what you told me, your statute ran in September of 2011. That is to say your claim for compensation and vocational rehabilitation are foreclosed by the two year statute, although your claim for medical benefits is probably not. I really want to emphasize how important it is to be thorough as to what hurts as soon as possible. If you say it is a shoulder injury and later find out it is a neck injury, the doctors will not get approval to investigate the neck injury. It is not going to be covered by worker’s comp if you didn’t report it as a neck injury at the time. From time to time what happens is that people think it is a shoulder injury, and it is really coming from the vertebra in the neck; or they think it is a neck injury, and it is really a nerve stretch injury in and around the shoulder. It creates a lot of problems trying to get the right injury treated if it was not originally reported. Be accurate in reporting your injury and be generous toward yourself. If you say that you hurt your elbow and your elbow gets better in two or three weeks, no harm done. If you think your elbow is going to be better in two or three weeks and it is not, and you didn’t report it, you are not going to be able to have it covered under worker’s compensation.

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