The answer to why an employer would dispute a workmans comp claim is simple and boils down to a single five letter word: money. Like any other type of i-n-s-u-r-a-n-c-e product, employers pay p-r-e-m-i-u-m-s to provide workers compensation benefits. And those amounts are directly affected when injured workers file for benefits.
Logically, the more workmans comp claims filed, the higher the costs for employers (it is for this reason, that investigative agencies are routinely used to monitor the daily activities of workers who have filed workers compensation claims).
And, unfortunately, there is another factor involved. Many employers will simply assume that a worker who has workers compensation on the basis of carpal tunnel syndrome, repetitive stress injury, or a lumbar back injury is not being completely truthful.
Such employer bias tends to be the case, of course, for injuries involving inexplicable pain that cannot be
wholly verified by medical examination, or even sufficiently verified by xrays or other imaging.
Does this mean that the injured worker who has constant back pain is malingering? Definitely not. Many medical conditions are difficult to objectively verify. The bottom line is simply this: workmans comp is a benefit and employees who have become injured or sick as a result of their job should file to protect themselves. Whether or not the employer believes that the worker is legitimately injured is really irrelevant.
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