After you suffer a work injury in Minnesota and have notified your employer, what do you do next?
If you’re like most injured workers, you seek appropriate medical treatment, whether it’s emergency care, diagnostic treatment, or just follow-up care. Those medical bills should then be submitted to your employer’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Carrier.
But who is that?
Work Comp Insurers
Most often, your employer will provide you with that information, either at the time you inform your employer of your personal injury or shortly thereafter.
But what if your employer can’t (or won’t) give you that information? Sometimes it isn’t easy to get the insurance information from your employer, for various reasons: Maybe your supervisor doesn’t know who the work comp insurer is, or maybe the person who knows isn’t available. It’s also possible your employer is withholding the information on purpose. If that is the case, you might be able to make a claim against them for illegal conduct. In the meantime, you still need to get medical treatment, and you can’t afford to wait. So what can you do?
Department of Labor and Industry
The answer lies with the Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI). If you have access to the internet (which, if you’re reading this blog post, you likely do), you can search to identify the workers’ compensation insurers for Minnesota employers at the DOLI search engine site.
All you need is some basic information, such as the date range for your inquiry, and information about the employer’s name and address. However, if you are still unable to find the insurer after using DOLI’s above search site, you can place a request directly at the inquiry page, and will likely receive an e-mail response from a DOLI employee within hours.
If you do not have regular access to the internet, you can always call DOLI directly to ask, by calling (651) 284-5005.
Don’t get left in the dark by your employer. Find out who your workers’ compensation insurer actually is. And be aware that if you run into difficulties, an experienced Minneapolis work comp attorney at 612 Injured can help you get the benefits you deserve.
