For many of us, social media such as Facebook and Instagram are part of our everyday lives, where we can share videos and pictures hanging out with friends, celebrating special events, or just spending time with family. While social media helps many stay connected by providing up to the minute updates on someone’s activities, when someone is seeking, or is a recipient of workers’ compensation following a work injury, social media is fertile ground to collect information to contradict and to deny a work comp benefits claim.
Of course, most insurance companies view a work injury benefits claim as legitimate, and will provide benefits to an injured employee. However, there are other insurers that scrutinize claims looking for a reason to deny employee workers comp benefits. These insurers may question witnesses surrounding the accident, they may request medical records, or they may even look to social media to see if they can catch employees in the act of behaving in ways contrary to their report of injury. All is fair game when insurance benefits are on the line.
In situations where an employee alleges that cannot work due to their injury or that the injury significantly impacts their day to day living because of pain, even a fleeting moment of physical activity captured in a social media post that contradicts your claim may result in an uphill battle to get benefits approved. The best approach is to steer clear of posting to social media leading up to your claim being approved and the entire duration of receiving benefits to avoid any misrepresentations of your health.
If you have been denied Iowa work comp benefits, contact the Davenport Iowa workers’ compensation attorneys of McDonald, Woodward & Carlson PC for assistance at 563-355-6478.