So I injured my shoulder at work almost a month ago from prying on concrete forms to break loose inside an elevator shaft. The forms weighed roughly 10000lbs(pectoral bicep, rotator cuff strain) I told my employer and we filled out an incident report 2 days later. I didn’t want to receive medical care at the time they told me to take it easy and the next day I told them I needed to go get it checked out. The doctor put me on restrictions and wanted me to do physical therapy 2-3x week for 4 weeks. 10 days later we had a post incident review at work with all the company safety people and superintendents on the job. I knew after that meeting that they weren’t on my side and something didn’t feel right and they were trying to twist the story. 2 days later I called the workers comp adjuster and she told me me claim was denied and so I let my company know(after work on a Friday) Monday morning 30 minutes before shift they had my layoff papers ready and I went to my follow up appointment later that day by myself. The doctor couldn’t believe it was denied. Still on restrictions and my shoulder was getting better but he still wanted me to do physical therapy and possibly get an mri. I work out of state and was laid off so I wasn’t going to continue care there as I was heading back home. My personal insurance won’t cover anything since it was work related. My denial letter came in the mail 10 days after I found out it was denied stating “it is our opinion that the problem with your shoulder is not related to any incident at work”. I contacted the occupational health office where I had 2 appointments and waiting on them to mail the medical records from my visit. I don’t believe I would be 100% if I tried looking for a job and going back to work and most places won’t hire someone like that in my line of work. Any advice on what to do about the appeals process or if I should get a lawyer to help with my appeal once I get all my documents in order? I am in a union as well