If you get injured on the job, then you likely deserve workers’ comp benefits. Your employment led to your injury, and that injury now means that you need medical care and that you may lose wages if you can’t work while you recover. Workers’ comp benefits can cover these medical costs and replace at least a portion of your wages.
But what if you have a pre-existing condition? People sometimes assume that they can’t seek workers’ compensation benefits for a pre-existing condition because the injury happened outside of work. Someone may have long-term back pain after a car accident they suffered when they were younger, for example. Since it’s not work-related, does this mean they can’t claim benefits?
Aggravating the injury
Under Connecticut law, there are actually some situations in which you can claim workers’ comp even with a pre-existing condition. You just have to show that whatever happened on the job aggravated that injury, making it worse than it was before. This may have caused pain and suffering, it may necessitate more medical care, and you can seek compensation for these costs.
For example, perhaps you have always had minor back pain due to an old car accident injury, as in the hypothetical example above. But you could be trying to lift heavy items at work when you strain your back, causing a slipped disc that needs surgery. You did have a pre-existing condition, so back pain is not brand new, but you clearly made that condition much worse when you were at work.
This can be a bit complicated if you’re trying to seek benefits. Be sure you know what legal steps to take.
