Injured at Work in Little Rock?

Your health comes first. If the injury is an emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest ER. In Little Rock, UAMS Medical Center (4301 W. Markham St.) is Arkansas’s only adult Level I Trauma Center and handles the most severe cases — crush injuries, amputations, traumatic brain injuries, severe burns. Other options include CHI St. Vincent Infirmary (2 St. Vincent Circle), a 600-bed facility and the largest hospital in Little Rock, and Baptist Health Medical Center (9601 Baptist Health Dr.). For pediatric emergencies, Arkansas Children’s Hospital (1 Children’s Way) is the state’s only Level I pediatric trauma center.

Under Arkansas workers’ compensation law, your employer has the initial right to select the treating physician. However, if you’re dissatisfied with the employer’s chosen provider, you can petition the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission for a change of physician. Make sure your doctor knows 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 to argue the injury isn’t as serious as you claim — or that it wasn’t caused by work at all.

Arkansas law requires you to notify your employer of a work-related injury as soon as practicable. If you need emergency treatment outside of business hours, you must report on the next regular business day. Report in writing if you can — the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission prescribes a specific form (Form AR-N), but any written notice is better than none. Keep a copy for yourself.

Your employer is then required to file a First Report of Injury or Illness with the AWCC within 10 days of receiving notice or knowledge of the injury (Ark. Code § 11-9-529). Employers who refuse to report face penalties of up to $500 per refusal.

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. In Arkansas, nearly all employers with three or more employees are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance.

Arkansas’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 Arkansas typically covers all reasonable and necessary medical treatment related to the work injury, temporary total disability (two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a state maximum of $953/week in 2026) if you’re completely unable to work, temporary partial disability if you can work but earn less, permanent partial disability benefits if the injury causes lasting impairment, permanent total disability, and death benefits for dependents. There’s a 7-day waiting period before disability benefits begin — but if your disability exceeds 14 days, benefits are retroactive to day one.

What workers’ comp does not cover: pain and suffering, emotional distress, full lost wages (you only get two-thirds, capped), or punitive damages. It’s designed to get you basic 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 Little Rock workplace injuries include a defective machine or tool (claim against the manufacturer — particularly relevant at Dassault Falcon Jet, Caterpillar, and the city’s manufacturing plants), a subcontractor’s negligence on a construction site (claim against the sub — especially on major projects like the Google data center at the Port of Little Rock), 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 a toxic chemical exposure caused by 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 Pulaski County Circuit Court. And because Arkansas’s Constitution (Art. 5, § 32) prohibits caps on compensatory damages, there is no artificial ceiling on what a third-party claim can recover.

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.

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

For workers’ compensation, report the injury to your employer as soon as practicable (same day if possible). The statute of limitations for filing a workers’ comp claim is two years from the date of the compensable injury (Ark. Code § 11-9-702). For occupational diseases, it’s two years from the date of last injurious exposure. There’s also a staleness provision: if you file a claim but then go two years without receiving any weekly benefit compensation or medical treatment, your claim is barred.

For a personal injury claim against a third party, the statute of limitations is three years from the date of the injury (Ark. Code § 16-56-105). But be aware of Arkansas’s strict 50% comparative negligence bar (Ark. Code § 16-64-122) — if you’re found 50% or more at fault, you recover nothing. That’s stricter than many states that use a 51% bar.

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. All compromise settlements in Arkansas must be approved by the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission, 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, through the AWCC) and personal injury (civil court, through Pulaski County Circuit 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 Arkansas, workers’ comp attorney fees are capped at 25% of indemnity benefits and must be approved by the Commission. When the claim is controverted (disputed by the insurer), half the attorney fee is paid by the employer or carrier. For personal injury claims, most attorneys work on contingency — you pay nothing unless they recover compensation.

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.