Reporting and Managing a Workers’ Compensation Claim

Reporting a Workers’ Compensation Injury

Employee Responsibilities

• Notify your supervisor as soon as reasonably possible. Your supervisor will assess the situation, assist with arranging proper medical care and begin the injury reporting process.
• Cooperate with your supervisor and the Third Party Claims Administrator (TPA) in the completion of all relevant documents.
• Provide a status report to your supervisor within 24 hours.
• Provide regular updates to your supervisor regarding appointments for your work-related injury.
• Provide restrictions/workability notes to your supervisor and TPA upon receipt. A photo of the paperwork is acceptable.
• Forward all medical bills to the TPA for payment.
• Provide the clinic/hospital with your claim number and TPA contact information to help prevent direct bills.

Supervisor Responsibilities

• Immediately -
  • Assess the incident and assist the employee in seeking appropriate medical care or necessary treatment for any work-related injury. Call 911 if an injury is a potential life-threatening emergency.
• Within 8 business hours -
  • Complete the online First Report of Injury form
• Document all workplace injuries via the First Report of Injury form, regardless of whether the claim appears to be compensable. For guidance on specific eligibility or coverage questions, please contact the Third Party Claims Administrator (TPA).
• Forward employee workability notes to the TPA.  Please note, you do not need to send them the actual medical documents.

Referring the Employee for Medical Care

Under Minnesota law, an injured employee has the right to select their own treating physician. At times, the employee may be required to see a provider selected by the University.

myMatrixx administers the Prescription Drug Program for the University of Minnesota's Workers’ Compensation program. The Prescription Drug Program eliminates co-pays and out of pocket expenses for medications prescribed for an accepted Workers’ Compensation claims.

Returning the Employee to Work

The Medical Provider must complete a Report of Workability and provide it to the employee. The Report of Workability will indicate when the employee can return to work and whether job modifications are required to accommodate physical restrictions. The employee must provide a copy of the Report of Workability to the supervisor and TPA.

Employees without restrictions can return to their usual work duties.

If the medical provider imposes work restrictions, the supervisor, UReturn Office (the employee services division of the Disability Resource Center), and TPA will review the job modifications that are required to comply with the restrictions. Every effort will be made to accommodate the employee's restrictions.

If work restrictions cannot be accommodated by the employee’s home department, the University UReturn Office will assign an Access Consultant to review the work restrictions and find suitable modified work elsewhere within the University for the injured employee while on restrictions.

If work is available within the restrictions, the employee will return to suitably modified work.