Think twice about posting those photos of you playing softball at your family reunion last weekend if you have an open workers’ compensation claim. Your Facebook photos or Twitter posts about what you are doing could be ammunition gathered by an insurance company investigator to be used to deny your claim. Illinois workers’ compensation attorney Mike Hefland posted a good article about how adjusters are using social media to deny claims or to reduce benefits. Photos don’t always tell the complete story, of course. You may have a perfectly reasonable explanation for what you are doing in the posted photo that is consistent with your injury claim, but why post anything that could be misinterpreted?
Be aware that when you file a claim, you have an insurance company on the other end whose job it is to reduce costs for their insured. The insurance company doesn’t know you, and they will not hesitate to have you followed, videotaped as you shop for groceries, or allege that you are fraudulently claiming benefits if you are creating evidence that could support those allegations.
