Injured at Work in Des Moines?

Your health comes first. If the injury is an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest ER. In the Des Moines area, UnityPoint Health — Iowa Methodist Medical Center is the only Level I Adult Trauma Center in Central Iowa and handles the most severe cases — crush injuries, amputations, traumatic brain injuries, severe burns. MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center operates as a Level II Trauma Center. Blank Children’s Hospital provides Level II Pediatric Trauma care. For non-emergency injuries, urgent care clinics throughout Polk County can evaluate and document your condition.

Under Iowa workers’ compensation law, you have the right to choose your own treating physician. The employer or insurer may suggest a preferred provider, but you’re not required to use them. Pick a doctor you trust. Make sure they know the injury happened at work, and ask them to document everything — what happened, what hurts, what tests were run, what treatment is needed.

If you delay treatment, two things happen. Your injury may get worse. And the insurance company will use the gap in treatment to argue the injury isn’t as serious as you claim — or that it wasn’t caused by work at all.

Iowa law requires you to notify your employer of a work-related injury within 90 days of when you knew or should have known the injury was work-related. Do this as soon as possible — ideally the same day. While 90 days is the legal deadline, even a few days of delay gives the insurer ammunition to dispute your claim. Report it in writing if you can (email works well), and keep a copy for yourself.

Your employer is then required to file a First Report of Injury (FROI) with Iowa’s Workers’ Compensation Division within four days of learning about the injury. If they don’t file, you can file it yourself.

Don’t rely on your employer to handle this correctly. Some employers delay reporting, file incomplete information, or tell injured workers they aren’t eligible for workers’ comp. Know your rights: nearly all Iowa employers with one or more employees are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Coverage applies from your first day on the job, regardless of whether you’re full-time, part-time, or seasonal.

Iowa’s workers’ compensation system is a no-fault system. You don’t have to prove your employer was negligent. If you were injured while doing your job, you’re generally eligible for benefits. In exchange, you give up the right to sue your employer directly. That’s the trade-off.

Workers’ comp in Iowa typically covers reasonable and necessary medical treatment related to the work injury, temporary wage replacement (80% of your spendable weekly earnings, subject to a state-set maximum) if you miss more than three days of work, permanent partial disability benefits if the injury causes lasting impairment, vocational rehabilitation if you can’t return to your previous type of work, and death benefits for dependents if the injury is fatal.

What workers’ comp does not cover: pain and suffering, emotional distress, full lost wages (you receive 80% of spendable earnings, not gross pay), or punitive damages. It’s designed to provide medical care and partial income replacement — not to make you whole. For many serious injuries, workers’ comp alone falls well short of covering the actual financial and personal cost.

This is the step most injured workers miss. Workers’ comp may be your only option against your employer, but if a third party contributed to your injury, you can file a separate personal injury claim against that party — and this claim can include pain and suffering, full lost wages, and other damages that workers’ comp doesn’t cover.

Common third-party scenarios in Des Moines workplace injuries include a defective machine or tool (claim against the manufacturer — particularly relevant given the heavy manufacturing presence in Polk County from companies like AGCO/Bobcat, Pella Corporation, and dozens of smaller fabrication shops), a subcontractor’s negligence on a construction site (claim against the sub), a delivery driver or other motorist causing an accident while you’re on the job (claim against the driver), a property owner who failed to maintain safe conditions at a job site you were sent to (premises liability), and toxic chemical exposure from a product you were required to use (product liability).

If any of these apply to your situation, you may be entitled to significantly more compensation than workers’ comp alone provides. You can pursue both claims simultaneously — workers’ comp through the administrative system and a personal injury claim through civil court.

The strength of both your workers’ comp claim and any potential personal injury claim depends on documentation. Start collecting evidence immediately.

Write down exactly what happened, when, where, and how. Note the names of any witnesses — coworkers, supervisors, bystanders. Take photos of the scene, the equipment involved, the hazard that caused the injury, and your injuries. Save copies of any incident reports filed by your employer. Keep every piece of medical documentation: ER records, doctor’s notes, imaging results, prescriptions, physical therapy records, and receipts for out-of-pocket expenses.

If a defective product or piece of equipment was involved, do not let it be repaired, discarded, or returned to the manufacturer. Preserving the physical evidence can make or break a product liability claim. If you were injured on a construction site with multiple contractors, identify every company that had workers on site that day.

Iowa has multiple deadlines that apply to workplace injuries, and they’re not all the same.

For workers’ compensation, you must report the injury to your employer within 90 days (do it immediately — delays create problems). The statute of limitations for filing a workers’ comp claim is two years from the date of injury. If you have been receiving weekly compensation benefits, you have three years from the date those benefits were last paid to file a formal claim.

For a personal injury claim against a third party, the standard statute of limitations is two years from the date of injury (Iowa Code § 614.1(2)). For wrongful death, it’s also two years.

Workers’ comp benefits must begin within 11 days after the injury causes the first day of disability. If the insurer delays payment without a valid reason, they may owe penalty benefits. Your employer must file the FROI within four days of learning about your injury.

After a workplace injury, you’ll be dealing with your employer, their workers’ comp insurer, and possibly your own health insurance company. If a third party is involved, their insurer may also reach out. Every one of these parties has a reason to keep payments low.

Do not sign a settlement agreement with the workers’ comp insurer without understanding what future benefits you’re giving up. Once you sign, it’s extremely difficult to reopen the case. All settlement agreements in Iowa workers’ comp cases must be approved by the Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner, but that approval doesn’t guarantee the settlement is fair to you — it only means it meets minimum legal requirements.

If a third-party insurer contacts you, the same rules apply as any personal injury claim: don’t give a recorded statement, don’t sign medical releases, and don’t accept a quick settlement before you know the full scope of your injuries.

Workplace injury cases can involve two completely different legal tracks running at the same time — workers’ comp (administrative) and personal injury (civil court). These tracks have different rules, different deadlines, and different types of compensation. An attorney who handles both can make sure you’re getting everything you’re owed, not just the workers’ comp piece.

In Iowa, workers’ comp attorney fees are not capped by statute in the same way as some states, but the fee agreement must be approved by the Workers’ Compensation Commissioner. For personal injury claims, most attorneys work on contingency — you pay nothing unless they recover compensation. Many Des Moines attorneys offer free initial consultations for workplace injuries.

If your injury is serious — a back injury requiring surgery, a crush injury, an amputation, a chemical burn, a fall from height — the gap between what workers’ comp pays and what a full personal injury claim could recover is often tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even if you’re not sure whether a third-party claim applies, one conversation with an attorney can answer that question.