What Is The Statute Of Limitations For A Workers Comp Claim?

What Is The Statute Of Limitations For A Workers Comp Claim?

Read­ing Time: 7 min­utes

Last Updat­ed on June 19, 2023 

If you have suf­fered a work-relat­ed injury or ill­ness, know the statute of lim­i­ta­tions for fil­ing a work­ers’ comp claim. Call us at 844–682‑0999 for legal help in under­stand­ing your rights and fil­ing of your claim.

  1. Impor­tance of know­ing the statute of lim­i­ta­tions for fil­ing a Work­ers’ Comp Claim
  2. Steps to take after a work-relat­ed injury or illness
  3. Under­stand­ing the ben­e­fits you are enti­tled to under work­ers’ comp
  4. Rea­sons to hire an expe­ri­enced Work­ers’ Comp Lawyer
  5. Com­mon mis­takes to avoid when fil­ing a Work­ers’ Comp Claim

Statute Of Limitations and Workers’ Comp Claim

The statute of limitations is a particular period of time which you have in order to file a workers’ compensation claim. It is the is statutorily prescribed limitation in time on a person’s right to bring a legal action. It defines the rights, benefits and obligations of employers and employees with respect to work related injuries.

Many of those injured in the work­place are unaware that their abil­i­ty to recov­er ben­e­fits is sub­ject to the statute of lim­i­ta­tions for work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion claims. 

If you plan to file a work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion claim against your employ­er for your injuries, it needs to be done in a time­ly man­ner. If the claimant fails to file a claim before the expi­ra­tion of the time peri­od set forth in the statute, then he or she will for­ev­er for­feit the right to recover.

Statutes of lim­i­ta­tion exist for a vari­ety of rea­sons but their dura­tion is typ­i­cal­ly a bal­anc­ing act of the rights of the dif­fer­ent par­ties involved and the over­all needs of society.

Can the Statute of Limitations be Extended?

In cer­tain sit­u­a­tions, a stat­ue of lim­i­ta­tions can be extend­ed by a claiman­t’s lack of knowl­edge or by the fact that an employ­er has mis­lead the claimant in some way. If the employ­er inten­tion­al­ly or unin­ten­tion­al­ly deceives the claimant or mis­leads the claimant into a false sense of secu­ri­ty, the statute may be extended.

The Court of Appeal has held that an employ­er must prove that an employ­ee has “actu­al knowl­edge” of his or her right in order to end the tolling of the statute of limitations.

You have a Right to Consult a Workers Comp Lawyer about Statute of Limitations and it’s Period of Eligibility 

If you are being denied work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion on the grounds that the statute of lim­i­ta­tions has already passed, we rec­om­mend hav­ing an expe­ri­enced work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion lawyer review the details of your claim as you may have options.

Statute of Limitation by States

Statute of Lim­i­ta­tions varies by each state. Here is a list of all the states and the applic­a­ble time period:

Alaba­ma2 years from the date of injury or 2 years from the date of last com­pen­sa­tion payment
Alas­kaNotice of an injury or death shall be giv­en 30 days to the board and to the employer
Ari­zona1 year of the date of injury
Arkansas2 years of the injury or 1 year from the date of last com­pen­sa­tion payment
Cal­i­for­nia1 year from the date of injury
Col­orado2 years from the date of injury
Con­necti­cut1 year from the date of injury; 3 years from the first man­i­fes­ta­tion of symp­toms for occu­pa­tion­al dis­ease claims
Dis­trict of Columbia1 year from the date of injury
Delaware2 years from the date of injury; 5 years from date of last ben­e­fit pay­ment once claim is acknowledged
Flori­da2 years from the date of injury or 1 year after last date of received benefits
Geor­gia1 year of the date of injury
Hawaii2 years after the date at which the effects of the injury have become man­i­fest, and 5 years after the date of the acci­dent which caused the injury
Ida­hoNo time lim­it for the ini­tial claim; 1 year from date of last pay­ment if ben­e­fits have been paid for more than 4 years
Illi­nois2 years from the last pay­ment of com­pen­sa­tion from your job, or 3 years from the date of your injury (whichev­er is longer)
Indi­ana2 years from the date of injury; 2 years after last date of com­pen­sa­tion made
Iowa2 years from the date of injury; 3 years after last date of com­pen­sa­tion made
Kansas200 days from the date of the acci­dent or 200 days after last pay­ment of benefits
Ken­tucky2 years of the date of injury or last vol­un­tary pay­ment of dis­abil­i­ty income ben­e­fits, whichev­er is later
Louisiana1 year from the date of injury; 1 year from the date a dis­abil­i­ty devel­ops, but no lat­er than 2 years from the date of an accident
Maine2 years from the date an employ­er is required to file a First Report (1 or more days of lost time) or the date of injury if no First Report is required
Mary­land2 years from the date of injury; 18 months from the date of death (for death ben­e­fits); 1 year after employ­ee has rea­son to believe he or she has an occu­pa­tion­al disease
Mass­a­chu­setts4 years of the date an employ­ee becomes aware of the causal con­nec­tion between their dis­abil­i­ty and their employment
Michi­gan2 years of the date of injury
Min­neso­ta3 years of the date of injury if employ­er filed a First Report of Injury with the Min­neso­ta Dept. of Labor and Indus­try; oth­er­wise, 6 years of the date of injury
Mis­sis­sip­pi2 years of the date of injury; if reopen­ing a claim, 1 year fol­low­ing cor­rect fil­ing of Form B‑31 or 1 year of claim denial
Mis­souri2 years of the date of injury or 1 year from the last date of pay­ment, whichev­er is later
Mon­tana1 year of the date of injury; or 2 years if injured work­er estab­lish­es lack of knowl­edge of injury, latent injury, or equi­table estoppel
Nebras­ka2 years of the date of the acci­dent or the date of last pay­ment of compensation
Neva­daInjured work­er must fill out Form C‑4, have the med­ical provider sign it 90 days from the date of injury or the date first noticed the onset of an occu­pa­tion­al disease
New Hamp­shire2 years from the date of injury; in cas­es where an injury or ill­ness is not imme­di­ate­ly rec­og­nized, injured work­er must pro­vide notice the date he or she knows, or should have known, of the nature of the injury
New Jer­sey2 years from the date of injury or last pay­ment of com­pen­sa­tion, whichev­er is later
New Mex­i­co1 year after employ­er’s insur­ance provider has start­ed (or failed) to pay you
New York2 years from the date of injury or last pay­ment of com­pen­sa­tion, whichev­er is later
North Car­oli­naForm 18 must be filed with the state’s Indus­tri­al Com­mis­sion 2 years from the date of injury
North Dako­ta1 year from the date of injury (date of injury is the first date a rea­son­able per­son knew or should have known that a work-relat­ed injury occurred)
Ohio2 years from the date of injury; 2 years after the dis­abil­i­ty began or 6 months after the ill­ness was diag­nosed for an occu­pa­tion­al dis­ease claim
Okla­homa2 years from the date of injury or death; 2 years from the date of pay­ment of any com­pen­sa­tion or wages in lieu of com­pen­sa­tion; or 2 years of autho­rized med­ical care
Ore­gon2 years from the date of injury, or 180 days from the date of a claim denial
Penn­syl­va­nia3 years from the date of injury; if ben­e­fits ter­mi­nat­ed, injured work­er has 3 years to seek rein­state­ment; 300 weeks from the date of last expo­sure for occu­pa­tion­al dis­ease claims
Rhode Island2 years from the date of injury in most cas­es (statute allows for flex­i­bil­i­ty, depend­ing on the nature of the case)
South Car­oli­na2 years of the date of the acci­dent; the date of the diag­no­sis (if an occu­pa­tion­al dis­ease claim); or the date the employ­ee dis­cov­ered, or could have rea­son­ably dis­cov­ered, the injury or illness
South Dako­ta1 year from the date of the acci­dent; dead­line may be extend­ed if your employ­er has pro­vid­ed med­ical treat­ment for the injury or if you are able to keep working
Ten­nesseeForm C40B must be filed one year from the date of injury
Texas1 year from the date of injury; 1 year from the date the employ­ee knew, or should have known, about an occu­pa­tion­al illness
Utah1 year from the date of injury
Ver­mont6 months from the date of injury; work­er may pur­sue claim after 6‑month time lim­it with proof the employer/carrier had pri­or knowl­edge of the injury
Vir­ginia2 years from the date of injury (no exten­sions offered if injury or ill­ness was dis­cov­ered after the claim deadline)
Wash­ing­ton1 year from the date of injury
West Vir­ginia6 months from the date of injury; 3 years from the last date the work­er was exposed to the haz­ard or the date the per­son should have rea­son­ably known they had an occu­pa­tion­al disease
Wis­con­sin2 years from the date of injury; 12 years if the employ­er knew or should have known about the injury; no statute of lim­i­ta­tions for occu­pa­tion­al dis­ease and cer­tain trau­mat­ic injuries
Wyoming1 year from the date of injury; 1 year after a diag­no­sis is first com­mu­ni­cat­ed to the employ­ee; or 3 years from the date of last expo­sure to the haz­ard (whichev­er occurs last)

What are the 5 things You can do to Stop Statute of Limitations in Workers Comp case? 

1. File a Claim Imme­di­ate­ly: It is impor­tant to file a work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion claim as soon as pos­si­ble after a work-relat­ed injury or ill­ness occurs. Fil­ing a claim quick­ly will help ensure that the statute of lim­i­ta­tions does not expire before the claim is processed. 

2. Gath­er Evi­dence: It is impor­tant to gath­er evi­dence to sup­port your claim, such as med­ical records, wit­ness state­ments, and pho­tos. This evi­dence will be impor­tant in prov­ing the extent of your injury or ill­ness, and will help ensure that the statute of lim­i­ta­tions does not expire before the claim is processed. 

3. Fol­low Up with Med­ical Care: It is impor­tant to fol­low up with med­ical care after a work-relat­ed injury or ill­ness, as the med­ical records will be nec­es­sary in prov­ing the extent of your injury or ill­ness. Addi­tion­al­ly, the med­ical records will help ensure that the statute of lim­i­ta­tions does not expire before the claim is processed. 

4. Com­mu­ni­cate with Your Employ­er: It is impor­tant to com­mu­ni­cate with your employ­er regard­ing your claim and the progress of the claim. Keep­ing your employ­er informed of the sta­tus of your claim will help ensure that the statute of lim­i­ta­tions does not expire before the claim is processed. 

5. Con­tact a Work­ers Comp Attor­ney: If you are con­cerned that the statute of lim­i­ta­tions may expire before your claim is processed, it is impor­tant to con­tact an expe­ri­enced work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion attor­ney. An expe­ri­enced work­ers’ comp attor­ney can help ensure that your claim is filed in a time­ly man­ner and that all evi­dence is col­lect­ed and pre­sent­ed in a time­ly manner.

More Questions?

  1. Work­ers’ comp statute of limitations
  2. Work-relat­ed injury compensation
  3. Ben­e­fits of hir­ing a work­ers’ comp lawyer
  4. Fil­ing a work­ers’ comp claim
  5. Com­mon mis­takes in work­ers’ comp claims

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Questions People Ask

  • What Is The Statute Of Lim­i­ta­tions For A Work­ers Comp Claim?
  • Ques­tions About Work­ers’ Com­pen­sa­tion Statute Of Lim­i­ta­tions In Your State? Ask A Lawyer
  • When Does The Statute Of Lim­i­ta­tions Begin To Run For NJ Work­ers Comp Cases?
  • I Filed A Request For An Infor­mal Hear­ing Does This Stop The Statute Of Lim­i­ta­tions Clock?
  • What Is A Statute Of Lim­i­ta­tion? Why Should I Care?
  • What Oth­er Statute Of Lim­i­ta­tion Issues Exist For Work­ers Com­pen­sa­tion Claims?
  • What Are The Time Lim­i­ta­tions After I Report My Injury?
  • If My Claim Is Denied, Is There A Statute Of Lim­i­ta­tions Or Time Require­ment On My Appeal?
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Related Topics

  1. Under­stand­ing your work­ers’ comp benefits
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  3. The role of med­ical evi­dence in work­ers’ comp claims
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