You may remember the adage, more common a decade ago, that everything on the internet lives forever. This saying is still true today, and may impact your worker’s comp claim.
The insurance company with your employer is looking for reasons not to approve your claim as requested, so don’t give them any ammunition. Lock down your online accounts, including your social media presence, so they can’t pass judgment on what you are doing.
If you post about your injury and the description differs at all from what you told your boss and the doctor, they can think you are lying about all of it. If you don’t post about your injury and continue to post as normal, they can think you are faking the injury as well, or aren’t as badly affected as you actually are. They may also try to claim you’re lying if they find you complaining about money, your job, or your boss. There is no good answer if the other side sees what you are posting online.
Some steps you want to take are listed below. All of the social networks give instructions on how to take these steps in their help sections.
- Make your Facebook account and posts friends-only, so that only people you have friended on Facebook can see them. If there is a little globe next to the post, anyone can see it – you want to avoid those entirely. You can go back and change your previous posts so they are friends-only.
- Change the setting so your Facebook account is not shown in online searches such as Google.
- Change the settings so all of your private information possible is hidden to people who aren’t your friends.
- Change the settings so you have to approve all posts before they are shown on your timeline. Look at what you are tagged in and remove anything that might hint at being inappropriate, such as any photos you’re tagged in where alcohol is shown.
- Go through your friends list. Are you really friends with everyone? Unfriend anyone you’re no longer friends with, or you’re not sure where they came from.
- Make your Instagram account private so only people you approve in the future can see it. Anyone who already follows you can still see it. Unlike Facebook, Instagram makes all posts private at once.
- Look at your Instagram bio and link, which are always public, and make sure they are appropriate. If you’re not sure, you can always leave them blank.
- Go through the list of people who follow you. Do you know all of them? If you don’t know who someone is, remove their access from your account. If you accidentally remove someone you want, you can always add them back.
- Make your Twitter account private so only people you approve in the future can see it. Anyone who already follows you can still see it. Unlike Facebook, Twitter makes all posts private at once.
- Look at your Twitter bio and link, which are always public, and make sure they are appropriate. If you’re not sure, you can always leave them blank.
- Go through the list of people who follow you. Do you know all of them? If you don’t know who someone is, remove their access from your account. If you accidentally remove someone you want, you can always add them back.
Online Forums/Comments/Etc.
- Think about other places you interact on the internet. Do any of them use your real name or a username that can be traced back to you? Are you sure that you’re anonymous? Remove anything relating to the accident and anything that can be used to identify you.
HammondTownsend is here to get you the best results when you’ve been injured at work. Give us a call today at 888-580-9048 for a free consultation.