witness statements

[tweety00]

Could you please explain more ???
Does employer get them for you?
Does that mean they will have to go to court?
Anything else that you can think of ?




Please help out all the newbies

[Sithie]

i know for me it is the people who were there when I fell, and the lawyers took their deposition s.

[Guest]

I got my own witness statements, like im going to trust my employer to get them and not edit them to their benefit.

Many times the attorney will get them for you, the employer will get them for their defense.

Witnesses arent always used in court. I know a few of mine wont appear because it would put their jobs in jeopardy going against the company. ( we all know its not supposed to happen, but it does.)

[red1030]

Hi tweety....when my husband was hurt, the only ones who got or attempted to get witness statements was the company. The first thing any company will do after a report of an injury is to attempt to determine exactly what happened. There are many reasons for this. First, are others at risk? Second, was the employee creating a situation that caused the accident? Third, what is the companies liability? Fourth, what agencies are going to get involved with this situation once it is reported, i.e, osha, DOH, labor boards, etc. Fifth, is it a fraudulent case? Sixth, what kind of employee has this person been up to this point? Has there been any other accidents in the past or in any other jobs etc.? The insurance companies reviews the entire investigation by the company then they start with their questions.

If there were wittnesses to the accident, a lawyer must be notified immediately so he or she can organize a deposition and get the information on record as soon as possible. You would want to know exactly what all wittnesses are saying before a hearing etc. I know from personal experience that as soon as a accident occurs information for the company comes out of the wood work. If there is any dirt to be thrown it happens even from people who are not witttnesses. This does not necessarily get put in the report, but cuting throught the nonsense, often there is valuable informaiton here for an employer. This may not be true everywhere, but it has been the norm when I would run an investigation about an accident. Rememeber not all companies are bad. They are just trying to survive and accidents cost them money. They don't see beyond surviving to see what an accident does to the family or the person suffering. I am sorry to say this but it is true.

[tweety00]

REd I dont know of any reports having been done .... 2 ppl seen me getting back up and later that day complaining about hurting ...... but never where asked to fillanything out ....

If they didnt see my trip but did see me getting up is that a witness or not .... manager says no

I cant get anyone to write down its been to long or dont want to get into trouble .... is a written report enough for the whole claim?

[Bad Boy Bad Boy]

WITNESS; If you know of any, ask them in private if they would mind writting up a statement to what the saw (not Heard), date and sign it, and add in date and estimated time of injury to you.

Company seeking witness; WoW, my company seemed to lost the ones in my favor, but I was quick on the draw, I ask them all if the make a witness report, to ask for a copy of it. They did, and then made a copy for me. So, I enlightened the company with the so called lost ones, with new copies of the ones they lost.

This does not mean they will need to go to Court, unless it is something that has to be. If they have to, then a DEPO will be performed on them, in many cases by both Attorney's. That Depo, then would be enough then for them not to go to Court.

[red1030]

tweety00...I can assure you that the company has witness statements from the two or three that saw you getting up or any one you may have talked to that day. Also remember the frame of mind of the wittness at the time of the request by his or her boss. I have actually seen people quit over this stuff because they don't want to be involved. And Bad Boy is right. Seldom are any witness statement used in court. All the witness statements say is that an accident occured where, when and maybe how. By the time it all goes to court, the relevant information is in the doctors medical reports.

Your lawyer could get these report if he felt it had valuable information. Maybe you should talk to him or her about this.

In New Jersey, an incident report or occurance report must be completed within 30 days of an accident. Usually this report is completed by the injuried worker, but it can be done by the supervisor. This is a report that you really should ask for a copy of. This report is then forwarded to the IC who his demanded by state law in New Jersey to forwarded to the courts electronically. These reports are all kept in public records. Outside agencies governing safe practices can easily access these records. Also the report must be kept in your employe file. Additionally the report is reported on the quarterly Osha reports that are sent to Osha and to IC that your employer has hired. Usually we had a safety meeting quarterly and the IC representative was present to review all reports even the ones that was a needle stick and there was no loss time.

Eventhought the manager said that the people who saw you get up are not wittnesses, they obtained reports from those people at least I would have. Mostly to understand what happened as stated earlier. Are they a witness in your favor, again I think this is something that you should ask your lawyer about. He or she may see it differently. They saw something that can't take away from the fact that it goes along with your statement about how you got hurt. I hope this helps.

[Bad Boy Bad Boy]

Red, good reply, I must add something though. Medical Reports, and Workmens Compensation Reports, are to be kept seperated from the Employee's normal Personal Files. This is a Law, and a Employer can get in trouble over this. In fact, I had taken my Employer to the Labor Board, and the EEOC over mine, and I won my cases there. What happen was, the WC IC's Attorney's ask for my WC Medical reports. My employers Office Manager, kept them all together. Then what she did, was she sent it all out, FED-X to the IC's Attorney. Here in Illinois, that violates the laws. For the IC's Attorneys had not only my WC Medical, but my Pesonal medical, because we were self insured for health care, plus they had my complete work file from date of hire. I was issued a right to sue letter, from the Labor Board, and then a right to sue letter from the EEOC.

It goes to show people, it is always good to learn their State Laws and Rules. Learn about Morgage Loans, Credit Card issues, on and on, learn and keep learing as much as possible. I have even started over the last couple of years, to research and learn criminal laws, I would say learning from the Laws that work for both sides. It is just as interesting.

[red1030]

Hi Bad Boy, you are exactly right. HR's are to keep three records by law. One is the employee record where the incident report would go which does not contain medical just that an accident occured, second is the payroll record, and third is the medical record. The report I was describing is the incident report. I stated that the incident report or report of the incident is sent to the courts also. This does not include any medical information or HIPPA laws would be confronting this situation. It is strictly that the accident occured. Also the different reports allow employers to see what they need to see to make good evaluations of their employees without the other reports convoluting the situation.

I told you that I was a Director of Nursing, but I also have a Administrators license and was working on my Ph.d for Healthcare Administration. To obtain the license I had to work in the various places within the health care organization such as HR, Enviromental, Safety etc. I hope that his back ground will add to this forum in a positive way. I want to be a help here. I really appreciate the information that you give on this forum. I have learned so much about W/C from you and the entire group.

[Bad Boy Bad Boy]

Red, thank you very much. Much like you, I just like to see people learn. Sometimes I try to format a little outline for others. That gives me and others something to think about, and maybe even perform some State research once in awhile. learning is our basic tools to get us strated on many issues in life. Trust me Red, your going to be a great help here at this Board.