Worker’s compensation claims are one of the most complex injury claims to pursue. If you want to pursue such a case, you are going to need some stone-hard resolve and determination if you want to get compensated for the injuries you have suffered.
A worker’s compensation claim covers all the injuries and illnesses suffered by an employee. In most states of the USA, businesses are required by the law to provide compensation to employees. Imagine that you woke up in the morning, got ready, and drove to work. Now, you start off your job as normal, but an unexpected incident happened on the job causing you to suffer an injury or get sick. Who should be held accountable for that? In such cases, worker’s compensation works as the light at the end of the tunnel and can pay for the employee’s medical expenses and rehabilitation cost. In most cases, worker’s compensation also works to provide an employee with lost wages because of the work they miss due to their injury. But, before we discuss the facts about worker’s compensation, let’s see some of the benefits that come out of it so that you know what to expect from it.
Basic Benefits of Worker’s Compensation Insurance
Worker compensation is not only beneficial for the employees, but it is also a great way for businesses to make sure that they don’t have to suffer a lot in case their employee gets injured. Here are the top benefits that worker’s compensation insurance provides. If you don’t understand the benefits provided by worker’s compensation, a workers’ compensation lawyer can provide more information.
- Medical care for the injured employee
- Temporary disability benefits such as wages if the employee can’t return to work due to the injuries he has suffered on the job.
- Permanent disability benefits such as pension if the employee can’t return to work at all due to the injuries he has suffered on the job.
- Supplemental job replacement benefits to help pay for the education training or skill enhancement of the employee if he can’t return to work due to a permanent disability.
- Death benefits to the immediate relatives of the employee if the injury caused his death. These benefits are paid to anyone who was directly independent of the employee for sustenance.
Top 7 Facts You Need to Know Before You File Your Claim
- The first thing that you need to keep in mind is that just before you are injured while working doesn’t mean that you automatically become entitled to worker’s compensation. You need to be the employee of the company, and you need to file for an “accidental injury” or an “occupational disease.” To help you get a better idea, an independent contractor working for a certain company doesn’t necessarily fall under employment, and if something were to happen to him, the company would not be liable to pay for his injuries. However, an independent contractor who is employed under a certain company can file a worker’s compensation claim. Before doing so, you must consult a reputable lawyer. Having someone like the orange county workers compensation attorney at your side will increase the chances of you winning the case exponentially. He will provide you with the needed counsel and guidance about how to tackle the case and what to do in order to win it.
- Most people think that suing your employer and filing for worker’s compensation are two different things. Typically, you can’t sue your employee for the injuries you have sustained at work when you are filing for a worker’s compensation claim. In most states, worker’s compensation is the only path you can follow if you want to get paid for the medical expenses and the wages lost due to something you suffered from at work. However, in most cases, you are able to pursue legal action against a co-worker if you think he was at fault that led to the incident which caused the injury. As your employer will have that employee insured, he will have to pay for his mistakes too. Moreover, depending on how you suffered the injury, you also are able to claim product liability or premises liability.
- You have to keep in mind that even though your employer offers worker’s compensation to his employee, it doesn’t mean that he or his insurer will look for your best interest. The insurer will make sure that your claim will get denied and will try to convince your employer to ignore the case. There are some employers who take care of these cases on their own, but most companies leave these claims at the hand of their insurers. When compared to your employer, the insurer’s main aim is to save as much money as possible. The insurer will have a team of attorneys to find evidence to make your case weak. They will either try to lowball you by offering you’re an early settlement or they will try to deny your claim altogether. So, you will be fighting against a team of experienced attorneys, which is why you are going to need a good attorney who handles the pressure and helps you win the case.
- A lot of people make the mistake of not notifying their employer when they have made a claim against them. In most cases, it is required by law to properly notify the employer whenever the employee makes a claim against him, and the failure to do so may bar your claim in the future. Where you may have likely notified him about the injury you had suffered and made a report of it, the next step is to file a claim against him. However, at this step, you shouldn’t make any statements that you are going to file a claim. Only when you have properly initiated the procedure, you will be given a deadline by the Worker’s Compensation Commission to notify your employer.
- It is important that you understand a difference between filing for a claim with your employer’s insurer and filing a claim with the Worker’s Compensation Commission as these are two different things. A compensation claim can be made in two ways, depending on the type of option your employer has opted. When an employee faces some sort of injury, it is the employer’s job to notify his insurer so that the insurance company can file a claim with the Worker’s Compensation Commission. However, most employers don’t do this in a timely fashion or don’t do it at all, in which case the employee suffers. If your employer doesn’t file the claim on your behalf, it is your duty to see that the Worker’s Compensation Commission is notified so that the claim process can be initiated.
- If you think that getting compensated for your work-related injuries is a piece of cake, you’re in for a surprise. These cases can get dragged in courts for ages and the claim comes with delays. You have to make sure that you have the right medical documentation if you want to get paid for it. Due to the long approval process, most medical treatments can get delayed and if it is urgent, the insurer might refuse to pay it altogether. If your medical examiner asks for an expensive test, you will have time to claim it from your insurer. Even if you do, you will not be authorized to carry on with it until it gets cleared. So, getting compensated for your injuries is a game of patience and resilience. You have to make sure that you are in constant contact with the Worker’s Compensation Commission and your lawyer. When the payments start rolling it, you will know that it was worth the wait.
Worker’s Compensation is formulated to assist the worker as much as possible. So, any work-related injury is compensated under the law. These injuries include anything that an employee suffers from. Moreover, there are a lot of states which allow specific illnesses that might be caused due to work to trigger coverage. For example, an employee works in a factory where he is exposed to certain chemicals daily. Now, if he can prove that exposure to those chemicals led to an illness he can get compensated for his troubles. Employees don’t even have to be on company grounds when they are inflicted with an injury. If an employee is somewhere else where he is doing a work-related task and he faces an injury over there, he can still file for a claim. However, driving to and from work doesn’t constitute a work-related accident. Additionally, many states allow employers to conduct drug or alcohol tests of the employee who suffers an accident. If these tests come out positive, the employer will be blameless for the accident as the employee himself wasn’t working at his full capacity. The worker’s compensation also doesn’t entertain any self-inflicted injuries or self-harm. After the accident, a medical examiner might conduct certain tests on you to determine if the injuries are natural or were caused due to some sort of intentional act.
