I live and work in Rosendale and I've been at the same small construction company for about twelve years now. I know my boss, I know his family, I see him at the grocery store and my kids go to school with his kids. A couple weeks ago I was helping frame a house and I took a nasty fall off a ladder, landed on my side and I'm pretty sure I cracked a rib or two. I went to urgent care and they confirmed two fractured ribs and said I need to take it easy for at least six weeks. Here's the thing though, my boss has been calling me every day asking when I can come back and making comments about how he's already short-handed and how this is really putting him in a bind. I haven't even mentioned filing a workers' comp claim because I know it's going to make things awkward and I'm honestly scared he's going to find a way to push me out if I do. I've been looking at a workers comp lawyer Rosendale NY just to get some advice on how to handle this without destroying a twelve-year working relationship, but part of me wonders if I should just suck it up and go back to work before I'm fully healed to keep the peace. I know that's probably stupid because I could make the injury worse, but this is the only job I've had for over a decade and I don't want to lose it over this. Has anyone else dealt with filing a claim when your boss is a neighbor and a friend? How do you handle it without things getting weird? I feel like I'm stuck between taking care of my health and protecting my livelihood.