Workers' Compensation Discussion Forums

Hi, I am a resident of CA, am 51 years old and have worked in the banking industry for more than 25 years. I have recently developed a considerable amount of pain in my right elbow (dominant arm) and it is exacerbated by use of my mouse. I am going to be having a nerve conduction test tomorrow, but have missed already two days of work and cannot fathom going back to the same old thing and compounding the injury. I believe it is accumulative, but that the tendons in my right arm were significantly injured from the period of March 08 to Jan 09 when I was given a temporary job function for my company opening correspondence from customers. This included repetitive grasping, pulling of fed-x packages, gripping and opening regular mail as well with letter openers and having to document/process all of the items within a very limited time restraint. In January 09 this function was moved out of my dept., and I am now working on requests from a lotus notes system and having to copy/paste and input a lot of information into a tracking spreadsheet. I have been diagnosed with carpal tunnel, but have not yet officially advised my workplace that I would like to file a worker's comp case. I am unsure about how I should do this, mostly because of the fact that there have been tons of layoffs in my workplace industry and I am fearful of being singled out. I am looking please for feedback on this issue. Thank you.

it's really up to your doctor as to what they believe is responsible for your condition. Filing a claim without medical documentation will only result in a denial.
if the doctor believes it is a work injury they are required to notify the employer directly.
here's the claim form if you decide to file
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/DWCForm1.pdf

if you want general information on the benefits read the fact sheets
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/iwguides.html

it's not really about being singled out.
it's safety issue for you and the employer; if you can't do your job without being injured then you shouldn't be doing that job any longer.
as you suspect, these type of injuries often leave workers at less then full recovery and restrictions that prevent returning to the same type of work.

Thank you 1171, I appreciate your references and your expertise. I find this forum to be both informative and friendly. You all do a great job!