When you caused your own injury at work, this is a situation where you need to speak with an attorney immediately about your claim to have them review your situation.
You are legally still permitted to receive workers’ compensation benefits in Nebraska even if you caused your own injury, as long as you were not willfully negligent.
You’re probably wondering, what it means to be willfully negligent. Willful negligence occurs when an employee exercised a “reckless indifference to safety”, thereby putting themselves at risk of injury. Whether or not you were willfully negligent in your specific scenario is only something that an attorney can advise you about.
When your injury is your own fault, you will often face a higher level of scrutiny by your employer or the insurance company, but it doesn’t mean you should give up and not seek benefits. You may very well still qualify for workers’ compensation benefits, even if your claim is initially denied. The best advice is to speak to an experienced Omaha workers’ compensation attorney, who can review you case and give you their opinion about whether or not you are entitled to benefits.
