Workers Comp Claimant – Not A Good Term To Use
Workers Comp claimant or just the word claimant should be avoided by anyone not in the legal profession. Why? Let’s cover the term and why it is not a good idea for claims adjusters, vendors, anyone in the medical profession, or even employers to use when identifying, documenting, or discussing someone who has reported a claim.
I listened to a recent non-legal webinar where the presenter used the term claimant over and over again. When I attended a conference last month, a medical provider/vendor brought up the word numerous times that the claimants were not following instructions, and sometimes the insurance carrier/TPAs were not paying the claimants’ bills.
Why So Picky?
I was taught not to ever use the term as it can instantly alienate the injured worker. I am not saying that everyone uses this term. In a recent claims review J&L was performing, the claims staff used injured worker or IW consistently.
Yes, workers comp claimant is often used in the legal industry. The workers comp file changes from a file to a claim where the injured worker becomes a claimant. Take a look at any workers comp lawsuit, and one will see the claimant or workers comp claimant used constantly and consistently.
What made me write this article was a letter that I saw in the claims review mentioned previously, where the adjuster wrote to the IW that contained Claimant in the paragraph in RE:. I saw numerous other letters that had the same denotation. That would be understandable if the letter was sent to the Claimant Attorney, but it was not the situation.
The next thing I saw in the file was that the IW had sought legal counsel. There is nothing wrong with the IW seeking out legal advice or representation. This happened more than once in the set of files that I was reviewing. – no injured worker or injured employee, etc.
My First Time Using Workers Comp Claimant Was the Last Time
Many years back, during a recorded interview with an injured employee, I used Workers Comp claimant quite a few times on the recording. My Claims Manager and Claims Supervisor both called me into a meeting with them. I was written up – only time in my career – for referring to the injured employee as a claimant. That meeting stuck with me until today.
The Claims Manager’s advice still rings true – “Workers Comp claimant means adversary or opponent.”.
Yes, I know that very few claims staff of insurance carriers and TPAs use the term. The term mainly appears now in documentation of third parties outside of claims adjusters.
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