Papers to Sign After an Ohio Work Injury: What Your Employer Cannot Make You Give Up

Attorney Answer

This page can't read your papers, but Ohio law draws one firm line around them: an agreement to give up your workers' compensation rights is not valid. The hospital bill for a work injury is paid through a comp claim, you can file that claim yourself, and it has to be started within one year.

The line the law draws. Ohio Rev. Code § 4123.80 begins:

No agreement by an employee to waive an employee's rights to compensation under this chapter is valid, except that:

The exceptions that follow are narrow: they cover an employee who is blind, for an injury caused by the blindness, and two specific waivers the law describes (one for voluntary employer-sponsored recreation or fitness activities). A paper that asks you to give up comp for a work accident in exchange for your employer paying the bill is not one of them.

What the papers might be. Some forms an employer asks for after an injury are part of an ordinary claim, such as a report of the injury or an authorization for the claim to see your medical records. Without seeing yours, nobody can say what these four are. You don't have to sign something you don't understand, and asking for time to have it read is reasonable.

You can file the claim yourself. Ohio Rev. Code § 4123.84(A):

(A) In all cases of injury or death, claims for compensation or benefits for the specific part or parts of the body injured shall be forever barred unless, within one year after the injury or death:

(1) Written or facsimile notice of the specific part or parts of the body claimed to have been injured has been made to the industrial commission or the bureau of workers' compensation;

Filing directly with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation puts the hospital bill where it belongs, whatever your employer does with the papers.

What you can do

1. Don't sign anything you don't understand. Ask your employer, in writing, what each paper is for.

2. Tell the hospital the injury happened at work and ask it to bill the workers' compensation claim.

3. File the claim with the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, online or by phone, naming every part of your body that was hurt.

4. Take the four papers to a lawyer before you sign them. Many workers' comp lawyers will review papers like these in a first conversation.

5. Even if you are handling this yourself, you would be best served by a brief phone consultation with a local Ohio attorney before you act. Most lawyers offer a short initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts — and on how your court actually handles this — is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. A workers' compensation claim must be started within one year of the injury under Ohio Rev. Code § 4123.84(A), most simply by notice to the Bureau of Workers' Compensation of each part of the body that was hurt. Have a lawyer or the bureau confirm your claim is on file well before then.