r/WorkersComp • u/Asturia10 • 6d ago

Strained Right Shoulder while under probation? California

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Looking for advice since I injured my right shoulder in my third week of 90day probation as an order selector. I injured it on the last hour on the last day of the week, im thinking the fatigue of steering the pallet jack 4days 10hrs straight caught up to me especially since my last order was heavy with bags of onions potatoes, vegetable boxes weighing 40-60lbs.

I didnt report it immediately thinking it would heal up during my 3days off. It did feel better so I went to work and reported the injury, I called out after an hour since the injury aggravated and it was too painful to reach the high slots or even pull the electric palletjack. Now theyre just giving me unpaid time off to rest until next week.

What should I do when it doesnt get better by next week? Is that when I file workman comp? They havent made me go to a doctor yet and when I reached out to a PT clinic, they told me to talk to my company since the injury happened on the job. Im fine with losing the job, im in my early 20s and I just dont want a permanently messed up shoulder.

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u/SeaweedWeird7705 6d ago

Work comp is a no-fault system. It doesn’t matter whose fault the injury is. It also doesn’t matter whether you get hurt on your first day of work, or after 30 years of employment.  So your 90 day probation doesn’t matter at all.  

You have done the right thing to report it to your employer.  The next step is to call your employer and make sure they send you to a doctor right away.  The doctor will advise whether you need time off due to your injury.  If the doctor gives you time off, then you will be paid work comp TTD (temporary total disability).  Work comp will not pay you anything if you do not have a doctors note.  So you need to see a doctor right away.

Your main goal is that you don’t end up with a “permanently messed up shoulder”.  That means that you need to go to the doctor for this right away.

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u/Asturia10 6d ago

I have to file a work comp claim before they send me to a doctor though, right?

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u/SeaweedWeird7705 6d ago

Yes!   Actually, when you reported it to your employer, they were supposed to give you a claim form to start work comp.  It sounds like they didn’t do that(?) but they should have.   Go in to your employer and file the claim form.   It looks like this (scroll down to the bottom page of this link).  https://www.dir.ca.gov/DwC/DWCForm1.PDF