90 days is the big Iowa deadline for giving notice of a work injury, and that is what the insurance company will focus on.

They may tell you that because you used your own health insurance or auto coverage first, you chose that route and gave up workers' compensation. They may also act like a late report to your boss means the claim is dead.

That is not automatically true in Iowa.

Using your own insurance after a crash in a company vehicle or while driving for work around Dubuque - on U.S. 20, Highway 61, or the Northwest Arterial - does not by itself waive a workers' comp claim. What matters most is whether the crash happened in the course of employment and whether your employer got notice within 90 days. Iowa workers' comp claims are handled through the Iowa Workers' Compensation Commissioner.

If your employer has been pressuring you to "keep it off workers' comp," that is a red flag.

Do these damage-control steps now:

• Give written notice of the crash and injury to your employer immediately, with the date, location, and body parts hurt
• Ask for the workers' comp claim number and insurer name
• Save every bill, EOB, mileage log, and work restriction note
• If another driver caused the wreck, keep that crash report too

Another trap: workers' comp and a claim against the other driver are not the same thing. If an Amazon van, contractor, or another driver hit you, you may still have a separate injury claim. Iowa's modified comparative fault rule matters there: if you are more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing from that third-party case.

If your own insurer paid bills, reimbursement issues can come up later, but that still does not mean you ruined the workers' comp claim. The bigger danger is waiting too long or letting your employer control the paper trail.