Ways To Prove That You Weren't Suffering From Depression Before Your Current Job
While a lot of workplace-related health issues are physical in nature, perhaps resulting from a fall, a burn, or an equipment malfunction, others relate to mental health. You may feel as though you cannot continue to work for your employer because of how depressed you are, and this is a major concern if you feel that your depression has a direct link to your job. It's possible to hire a workers' compensation attorney and build a case against your employer, but you'll need to prove that you weren't suffering from depression before you started your current job — otherwise, your employer's attorneys will suggest that their client didn't impact your mental health, and you'll be unable to gain any compensation. Here are some ways to prove that you weren't suffering from depression prior to getting your current job.
Records From Your Family Physician
Your workers' compensation attorney will almost certainly want you to get copies of your medical records from your family physician. People who are depressed will often discuss this common mental health condition with their doctors, so your medical records will be very revealing. Your attorney's investigators will comb through years' worth of records to show that you didn't discuss being depressed with your doctor in your last job, and that this sort of discussion became commonplace during your annual physicals sometime after you began working for your current employer.
Human Resources Records
You can also bolster your case by obtaining your employee records from your company's human resources department. If you've made claims about your mental health as a result of certain issues at work — for example, your manager's habit of constantly giving you unrealistic deadlines — there will be records of this information in your HR paperwork. Even though HR staff are employed by the company, they have a responsibility to serve as advocates for the employees, and that includes listening to their complaints. Your attorney may build your workers' comp case, in part, around the records of the meetings you've had with HR.
Notes From A Mental Health Professional
It's possible that you've chosen to see a mental health professional as a result of your struggle with depression. Your attorney may ask the therapist or counselor to share some notes on your depression and how you've described it. Patients are usually very open with their talk therapists, which means that you may have clearly talked about the reasons that your job has led to your depression. Together, these reports and documents may be enough to build a successful workers' compensation case against your employer because of your depression.
For more information, contact a local workers comp attorney or visit sites like http://www.walzlaw.com.
Share