If you're like many people, you use at least one social media site, such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, to post information about your life and stay connected with friends and family.
While this is fine most of the time, it can be dangerous if you're injured in a Daytona Beach or North Central Florida workplace and filing a workers’ compensation claim. Posts may actually put your potential benefits at risk.
Pitfalls of Social Media During a Workers’ Compensation Case
If you plan to continue posting on social media while your claim for benefits is underway, you need to understand how these public displays could be used against you.
Insurance companies and their attorneys regularly search claimants’ social media profiles for information they can use to deny or reduce a claim. Sometimes this involves using a misinterpreted post or picture.
Here are some of the ways posts can hurt your case:
- Statements you make about the incident, your injuries, and recovery can be discovered and used to dispute benefits. An innocent statement such as, “I had a better day today” could be used to argue that you're less seriously injured than you claim.
- Even if you're not doing anything outside your scope of care, location information or pictures of you at certain locations can be interpreted otherwise. For example, if you go to a birthday party at a bowling alley or swimming pool, the insurance adjuster could claim you were engaged in activities you supposedly can't do—even if you were just eating there.
- Pictures of vacation while you're supposed to be off work recovering can be damaging.
- Posts by family and friends can also be discovered by the insurance company and weaken your claim. The insurance adjuster may find pictures or posts you're tagged in which raise disputes about the seriousness of your injuries.
- You also want to be wary of any friend requests from people you don't know. It could be an attempt by an insurance adjuster to obtain information about you.
If you suffered an injury at your place of employment or while traveling for your employer, our workers’ compensation attorneys have the knowledge and expertise to answer your questions and defend the benefits you deserve. Call our office today to schedule a free initial consultation.
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