What to Do After a Work Injury in Greenville
Treatment comes first. While you're laid up, a spouse or a trusted coworker can give notice for you and start saving documents.
- Urgent treatment. For a crushed hand, a fall from a dock or a back that won't move, dial 911, and make sure the ER chart says it happened on the job.
- Ask which doctor is authorized. For non-emergency care, the employer or its insurer generally chooses the treating physician.4 Check before booking follow-ups.
- Notice to the boss. Let the lead, foreman or manager know right away, and back it up with a text or email that has the date stamped on it.
- Check that the paperwork went in. Don't assume anything reached the Commission; ask for written confirmation.
- Your own account. Which shift, which line or bay, the machine or load involved, and who was working beside you.
- Take pictures. Your injuries as they heal, and the spot and equipment if a coworker can do it safely.
- Get coworkers' numbers. People change jobs and are hard to find later.
- One envelope for everything. Doctor bills, paycheck stubs, the schedule from the weeks before, and each form the carrier mails.
Where Upstate Workers Get Hurt
Greenville County work injuries happen on manufacturing plant floors and in warehouses and distribution centers along I-85, on construction sites across the Golden Strip and Greer, in hospital and nursing jobs, in restaurant kitchens downtown, and on the road for delivery and service drivers.
Workers' Comp Deadlines
Most injuries that happen on the job in South Carolina go through the workers' compensation system.1 Workers generally must tell the employer about a work accident right away and no later than 90 days after it.2 The ordinary claim-filing period is two years after the accident, but exceptions and special rules may apply.53
Repetitive trauma injuries and occupational diseases that develop over time may follow different timing rules, and the date symptoms first appeared is not necessarily the date the clock started.6
When someone who works for a city, county or state agency caused your injury, a claim against that agency follows its own, possibly shorter, timeline.7
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
What Workers' Comp May Provide
South Carolina workers' compensation may pay for authorized medical treatment, partial wage replacement when you can't work, and benefits for qualifying permanent disabilities. Workers' compensation generally does not provide damages for pain and suffering, and workers usually do not have to prove the employer was negligent to qualify.8
Claims Against Someone Else
Workers' compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against a covered employer, with limited exceptions.9 An employee may still pursue a claim against a responsible third party, such as an unrelated driver, equipment maker or outside contractor.10
Contractors can be tricky. A business that hires a subcontractor to do part of its own trade may be a statutory employer, and that can extend workers' comp immunity to it.119
See our statewide workers' comp page. For job site injuries, see construction accidents in Greenville.
Talk With Us
Getting hurt at a plant or warehouse can leave you worried about rent, your position on the line and your recovery in the same week. We'll ask about the job, the moment you got hurt and whether you've been able to go back.
Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston. The first conversation can happen by phone. We take cases across South Carolina, including Greenville and the Upstate.
Call and tell us whether checks have come, whether the doctor visits were approved, and what HR has said.
South Carolina Law on This
- Most injuries that happen on the job in South Carolina go through the workers' compensation system, which has its own rules, and usually limits suing your own employer.1
- An injured worker in South Carolina generally must tell the employer about a work accident right away, and no later than 90 days after it, to receive workers' compensation, unless an exception applies.2
- A South Carolina workers' compensation claim generally must be filed with the Workers' Compensation Commission within two years after the accident, or after a death it caused. Telling the employer does not count as filing. Occupational diseases and repetitive trauma follow different rules.3
- In South Carolina, an employer or its workers' compensation insurance carrier generally must provide and pay for reasonable medical treatment for a compensable work-related injury. The employer or insurer usually selects the authorized treating physician, although exceptions may apply.4
- The ordinary South Carolina workers' compensation claim-filing period is two years after the accident, but exceptions and special rules may apply. Reporting an injury to a supervisor is not necessarily the same as filing a claim with the Workers' Compensation Commission. The Commission advises injured workers to file a Form 50, or a Form 52 for a death claim, to protect their rights even when the employer has reported the accident.5
- Different workers' compensation timing rules may apply to repetitive trauma injuries and occupational diseases that develop over time in South Carolina. The date a worker first experienced symptoms is not necessarily the date the filing deadline began.6
- Claims against a South Carolina state or local government agency have their own filing deadline, which can be shorter, and there could be caps on damages under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, depending on the facts of the case.7
- South Carolina workers' compensation may provide payment for authorized medical treatment, partial wage replacement when an injury prevents work, and benefits for qualifying permanent disabilities. Benefits depend on the nature of the injury, the employee's wages and the applicable rules. Workers' compensation generally does not provide damages for pain and suffering, and workers usually do not have to prove the employer was negligent to qualify.8
- Workers' compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against a covered South Carolina employer for a qualifying workplace injury, although limited exceptions exist. South Carolina's statutory-employer doctrine can extend that immunity to some contractors or other businesses, so they are not automatically third parties simply because they are not the worker's direct employer.9
- In South Carolina, an employee injured at work may be able to receive workers' compensation benefits and also pursue a personal injury claim against a responsible third party, such as another driver. The workers' compensation insurer may have a right to reimbursement from any settlement or judgment. Special rules and deadlines apply when pursuing both claims.10
- Under South Carolina workers' compensation law, a business that hires a subcontractor to perform work that is part of the business's own trade or operations may be considered a statutory employer. When this rule applies, the business can be responsible for workers' compensation benefits for the subcontractor's employees, even though it did not hire them directly.11
- Most personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.12
- South Carolina's statute of limitations generally sets the deadline for filing a lawsuit in court. Simply opening a claim with an insurance company or negotiating with an insurance adjuster does not stop the statute of limitations from running.13
Frequently Asked Questions
I told my shift supervisor. Isn't that filing a claim?
Not necessarily. Reporting an injury to a supervisor is not necessarily the same as filing a claim with the Commission, which advises injured workers to file a Form 50, or a Form 52 for a death claim, even when the employer has reported the accident.5 Telling the employer still matters and should happen right away.2
Don't I get three years like other injury cases?
Can I sue the company I work for?
Can I pick my own doctor?
For non-emergency care, the employer or its insurer usually selects the authorized treating physician, though exceptions may apply.4 Emergencies come first no matter what. For later visits, get a yes from the adjuster before you go so a bill doesn't get denied.
Sources
- S.C. Code § 42-1-540
- S.C. Code § 42-15-20
- S.C. Code §§ 42-15-20 and 42-15-40
- S.C. Code § 42-15-60; S.C. Code Regs. § 67-509(A)
- S.C. Code § 42-15-40; South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission guidance for injured workers
- S.C. Code § 42-15-40
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-110 and 15-78-120
- S.C. Code Title 42; South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission guidance for injured workers
- S.C. Code §§ 42-1-400, 42-1-540; Keene v. CNA Holdings, LLC, 436 S.C. 1, 870 S.E.2d 156 (2021)
- S.C. Code § 42-1-560
- S.C. Code §§ 42-1-400 through 42-1-420; Keene v. CNA Holdings, LLC (S.C. 2021)
- S.C. Code § 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-3-20 and 15-3-530
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation. Every case depends on its own facts.
