The first screwup is thinking old photos are harmless

They are not harmless.

If you're a firefighter in Queens and your shoulder got wrecked doing repetitive overhead lifting at a warehouse job off duty, the insurance carrier will dig for anything that makes you look strong, active, and fine. Old softball photos from Forest Park. A video of you pressing weight in a gym in Astoria from last summer. A beach shot from before the pain got bad. They will act like time doesn't exist.

And a lot of people help them do it.

The dumb move is leaving everything public because "those pictures are from before I got hurt." That may be true. The problem is the adjuster or defense lawyer will still wave them around to suggest you're exaggerating, or that your pain came from some hobby instead of repetitive work at the warehouse.

In New York workers' comp cases, shoulder claims from repetitive stress are already a fight. A single accident is easier for people to understand. "Box slipped, shoulder popped." Fine. But months of overhead lifting on a loading line in Maspeth or near JFK cargo? That gets challenged fast. Add social media photos, and now you're spending time proving the damn obvious.

The second screwup is describing the injury like it happened all at once when it didn't

People panic and tell a messy story.

One day they say the pain started three months ago. Next time they say six weeks. Then they tell the doctor, "I guess I slept on it wrong," because they don't want drama at work. That kind of inconsistency kills repetitive-use claims.

If your shoulder pain built up from constantly lifting above chest level, stocking, scanning, reaching, and loading, say that plainly and keep saying it the same way. Not a different version every time somebody in a polo shirt asks.

This matters even more if you're also a firefighter, because the insurer may try to pin the problem on your firefighting duties, old training, workouts, or literally anything except the warehouse.

The third screwup is telling the wrong employer or waiting too long

A lot of people new to New York get confused here.

If the warehouse job caused the shoulder injury, the warehouse employer is the one that needs notice. Not your FDNY supervisor. Not your union rep first. Not your cousin.

In a New York workers' comp claim, you generally need to notify the employer within 30 days and file the employee claim form within two years. Miss the notice window and the carrier starts swinging.

People also hear about New York's 90-day notice-of-claim rule and apply it to everything. That's for claims against city agencies, the MTA, and other public entities. If you blew out a tire in a pothole crash on Queens Boulevard and wanted to go after the City, that 90-day issue matters. A private warehouse shoulder claim is different. Don't lose time chasing the wrong rule.

Medical records can save you or bury you

This is where people accidentally sabotage themselves.

You go to urgent care in Elmhurst, or an orthopedist near Union Turnpike, and you say, "Shoulder pain, no specific injury." That's not enough. The chart needs the work mechanism: repetitive overhead lifting, worsening over time, reduced range of motion, pain with reaching, pain at night, weakness.

If your record just says "shoulder pain" and your Instagram shows you carrying a kayak two years ago, guess which story the carrier likes better.

A few things not to do:

• Don't delete posts after the claim starts, don't make new braggy posts about workouts or side jobs, don't tell doctors "maybe it's from the gym" if that isn't true, and don't miss appointments because you think the pain is "basically the same"

Deleting old content can be spun as hiding evidence. Posting new "grind never stops" stuff while you're claiming limited shoulder use is just handing them ammunition.

The fourth screwup is acting normal on surveillance days

Yes, this happens.

If you're in Queens, they may watch your building, the grocery store lot, or the block outside your place. Maybe in Richmond Hill. Maybe in Woodside. They don't need a movie-worthy stakeout. They just need thirty seconds of you lifting something awkwardly into a trunk and then they'll pretend that means you can do repetitive overhead warehouse work all shift.

That doesn't mean live like a statue. It means don't push through pain to look tough. Firefighters are especially bad at this. A lot of guys think if they admit limits, they're cooked. So they overdo it, then the carrier uses that one clip forever.

The fifth screwup is forgetting that "off duty" doesn't mean "not covered"

This trips up people who just moved here.

Being a firefighter does not magically turn every injury into an FDNY issue. If you were off duty and got hurt in your separate warehouse job, that can still be a valid workers' comp claim through that employer. The fact that you also have a physically demanding public job just gives the insurer more alternate explanations to throw around.

And if you drove upstate after a shift, hit black ice on I-90 near Rochester months earlier, posted pictures from that trip, or had some old rec-league photos, expect them to mash all of it together and call your shoulder problem "preexisting."

That's why the biggest mistake is letting everybody else write the story first. Your report, your medical history, and your online footprint need to line up before the insurance company turns an old photo into the whole case.