A month ago, at work, I was wearing my ppe and while i was walking one of my shoe laces of my steel toe boots got hung up in the hook of the other shoe causing me to trip and fall over on my knees. Both of my knees were bruised and hurt for a couple weeks but seemed to get better at first. Now exactly 4 weeks after the incident it starts hurting again and it seems to be getting worse with every step I take. It almost feels dislocated in some kind of way.
Anyways, at that time I immediately reported the incident to HR and requested an incident report. Since I know how our HR, I took a picture of the notes she made but I don't think she ever actually wrote the incident report. I never saw it or signed it. However, I have the picture of her notes, the pictures of my knees at the time from different days after the incident and I was able to get a hold of the camera footage of the actual incident.
Since the pain is getting worse I explained to HR that I will try to rest over the weekend and wait until Monday to see if the pain is better or not, then decide if I want to be seen by a doctor. HR is now telling me that they will check with the insurance to see if this is even considered a workers comp case. I have a feeling they'll try to fight this.
I don't want to wait for their answer and like to be prepared ahead of time, but now I'm questioning, am I in the wrong and this is not a workers comp case? Does it vary by state? Or will any lawyer have a field trip fighting this case?
Edit: Obviously I won't get a lawyer if I don't have to. And obviously I don't even know what the actual issue is. It may just be nothing and I will be ok by monday. My ocd and anxiety is just already taking this a step further, in case I would need surgery or have long lasting chronic pain, etc
Edit 2:
This is what I found online about it:
Workers' compensation is generally considered a no-fault system, meaning that an injured employee doesn't need to prove that someone else was at fault for their injury or illness to receive benefits.
This means that the negligence of the employee, their employer, or their co-workers is not considered.
However, there are some exceptions.
Willful misconduct
The act of a third party or fellow employee for personal reasons
The employee's intention to cause injury or death to themselves or another
Intoxication from alcohol or illegal drugs
Failure to use safety appliances provided by the employer
Willful refusal or neglect to perform a statutory duty
Benefits are also usually prohibited if the employee injured themselves by:
Engaging in gross negligence
Completely ignoring safety measures in an extremely negligent way
None of it was the case.