What to Do After a Work Injury in Mount Pleasant
Medical care comes first. While you're admitted, a spouse or someone from your crew can give notice and start a folder.
- Get emergency care. Call 911 for serious injuries. Tell every doctor and nurse it happened at work and how.
- Ask about authorized treatment. For non-emergency care, your employer or its comp insurer generally picks the treating doctor.4 Get emergency care right away if you need it, and check that follow-up care is authorized before you schedule it.
- Tell your employer in writing if you can. Tell a supervisor what happened, when and where, and send a text or email so there's a dated record.
- Confirm the Commission has a claim. An employer's accident report and a filed claim aren't always the same thing. Get confirmation by email.
- Write down what happened. The time, the task, the equipment and who was there.
- Take photos. Your injuries as they heal, plus the spot and any broken equipment if a coworker can safely photograph it.
- Get coworkers' numbers. They're hard to track down months later.
- Stay organized. One envelope for doctor bills, paychecks, shift schedules and anything mailed by the comp carrier.
- Read before you sign. Settlement papers and medical releases are worth a lawyer's look.
Jobs Around Mount Pleasant
People get hurt working in restaurant kitchens, cleaning and maintaining beach rentals on Isle of Palms, doing landscaping and pool work, building homes north of town and working on boats and docks. The comp rules are the same whatever the job.
Workers' Comp Deadlines
Most on-the-job injuries in South Carolina go through workers' compensation.1 Workers generally must report the accident to the employer within 90 days.2 A timely filing with the Commission also has to happen.3
The usual filing period is two years after the accident, though exceptions and special rules can apply. Reporting to a supervisor isn't necessarily filing with the Commission, which advises filing a Form 50, or a Form 52 for a death claim, even when the employer reported the accident.5
Repetitive trauma and occupational diseases can follow different timing rules, and the first day of symptoms isn't necessarily when the clock began.6 When a public agency is behind whoever caused the injury, any claim against it runs on a separate, possibly shorter, clock.7
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
What Comp May Provide
Workers' comp may pay for authorized medical care, part of your wages while you can't work and benefits for qualifying permanent disabilities, depending on the injury, your wages and the rules. Unlike a regular injury lawsuit, it generally doesn't pay for pain and suffering, and you usually don't have to prove your employer was careless.8
Claims Against Someone Else
Comp is generally the only remedy against a covered employer, with limited exceptions.9 If a driver who doesn't work for your company, a defective machine's maker or another outside business was careless, you may be able to sue that party.10
Contractors are tricky. Under South Carolina's statutory-employer rule, some contractors and other businesses get the same protection from suits, so they aren't automatically outside parties just because they didn't hire you directly.911
The statewide page covers workers' comp claims. For job-site injuries, see Mount Pleasant construction accidents.
Talk With Us
A work injury can leave you worried about your health, your job and your bills at the same time. We start by listening to what happened and where things stand.
We take cases across South Carolina, including Mount Pleasant and the islands. Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston.
Tell us about the job, the injury and how the employer and the carrier have responded.
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 manager I got hurt. Is that the same as filing a claim?
Don't I have three years, like other injury cases?
Can I sue my employer?
Can I see my own doctor?
For non-emergency care, the employer or its comp insurer generally picks the authorized doctor, with some exceptions.4 Get emergency care right away if you need it, and confirm follow-up care is authorized so you don't end up in a billing dispute.
My back gave out after months of lifting at work. Does that count?
It may. Injuries that build up over time and occupational diseases can follow different timing rules, and the day you first felt symptoms isn't necessarily when the deadline started.6
Do I have to come downtown to get started?
No. The first conversation can happen by phone. Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston if you want to meet later. Can't make the trip? We can meet you at the hospital, at your home or another place that works.
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.
