Do you have a DBA claim?

A DBA claim, or Defense Base Act, gives insurance coverage, much like workers’ compensation, for employees working under government contracts outside of the USA. It is designed to protect the rights of workers who are injured while working on government contracts in foreign contracts. If you’re a government contractor and have been injured while doing your job, you can make use of the DBA. This post will answer your questions about dba claims.

Report Injuries Immediately

If you think you have a Defense Base Act claim, then you must be certain that you have followed the correct process from start to finish.  

The first thing you must do is formally inform your supervisor of the incident you were involved in as soon as you can. This is essential if you’re going to make any kind of a DBA claim. Speak to your supervisor verbally about your safety concerns, but make sure you fill in any required paperwork too, so you have a paper trail. 

Once your employer has received the relevant paperwork from you, they are then required to take the proper steps themselves. These forms create a paper trail that will be used to prove to the DBA decision-makers that your accident was genuine and deserves to be compensated. If you’re going to make a claim, you need a case that will convince insurance companies to make a payout. 

Seek Immediate Care

In order to build a convincing case, you need to create a solid paper trail that shows without a doubt that you took the necessary steps to manage your injury. If you don’t, your employer’s insurance company can claim that you deliberately failed to treat the injury in order to claim more money from them. 

After you have informed your supervisor about the accident, you should then get authorization to visit a doctor of your choice. This means you can choose a doctor who is not connected to your employer or the insurance investigation. 

Of course, any doctor is required to treat you either way, but if they have a connection to the DBA investigation, there is a chance that they may downplay the seriousness of your injuries in order to reduce the amount of money that you are able to claim from the insurance company. 

Record Everything

You will need a paper trail at every stage of your claim. Keep your own records of anything that happens to help you to build a case that can’t be ignored.

Make sure you keep copies of incident reports, medical records, and clinical records. 

Remember that all communication about your claim should be made through your attorney, not yourself. An attorney knows how to maximize the DBA claim and will help you to avoid accidentally jeopardizing your own case by saying or doing something wrong. Keep in close contact with your lawyer throughout the entire length of your claim, listen to any advice that they give you and allow them to take the lead in order to get you what you are entitled to.