I've (25m) been at my job a few years and I've only done one thing. It's a lot of heavy lifting and I'm at a point where my lower back, elbows, wrists, knees are shot.
There's a horrible jolt in my back when doing weird things such as stepping wrong, sometimes I have awful pain in my elbows when just opening doors, wrists hurt when it comes to opening jars. My work refuses to move me to something easier because they know they will not find someone that does my job as good as me.
I'm thinking come Monday I will be going to our clinic and trying to get workman's comp because the work is crippling me, the pain is debilitating, and I can't go on much longer but the money is good. I've been a model worker ever since ive been at my establishment, and now that I want something else its too much to ask for.
The thing is is that this happened earlier this year. I went to the clinic, but prior they said if im unfit to work my current position, they'll cut me down to $10 an hour (I make about 50ish an hour) and do something else. I feel like this is illegal (Indiana, USA) but I'm not sure so I didn't say anything, i feel as though workmans comp has to be 2/3rds the usual pay but im unsure. I went to the clinic, and they didn't help me out at all, they basically just said try not to lift anything too heavy but that's all my job is.
My job is crippling me and I'm not sure how to get out of this predicament.
Edit: going somewhere else isn't really ideal, with the economy being slower there's not much elsewhere in my area for me to go. I'm also scared if I leave to somewhere else, this pain will still be there and I'll be unable to work there aswell. I feel pretty defeated.