[loganhughes]

Looking back now I feel pretty naive about the whole thing, but when I first got hurt at work I honestly believed my boss was looking out for me. I do landscaping and property maintenance around Greenville and the surrounding areas, and last summer I was running a wood chipper when a branch kicked back and caught my arm—ended up with a bad fracture and some tendon damage that needed surgery. The day after it happened my boss came to see me and gave me this whole speech about how workers comp would just make everything more complicated, how it would raise his insurance rates, and that he'd rather just pay me under the table until I healed up and cover the medical bills himself. He made it sound like he was doing me a favor by keeping it off the books. I was scared and in pain and honestly I almost went along with it because I didn't want to be difficult. Thank God my wife stepped in and said absolutely not, that if something went wrong with my recovery or if I ended up needing more treatment down the line I'd have no protection at all. She found some information online about Protecting Injured Workers in Greenville NY and basically dragged me to a consultation before I could talk myself out of it. It turns out if I had taken that under the table deal I would've been completely on my own when the surgery ended up needing a second follow-up procedure and when my recovery took way longer than expected. I guess I'm sharing this because if anyone else is in a situation where your employer is trying to convince you to skip filing a claim, please don't make the mistake I almost made. It feels awkward and you don't want to cause trouble, but you're the one who has to live with the consequences if your injury doesn't heal right or if your boss suddenly changes his tune six months from now.