You get injured at work. You tell your supervisor or manager. You wait for medical treatment. You can’t work and you wait for benefits. You’re told you can’t see the doctor or get the treatment you want. You still wait for benefits. Someone from the workers’ compensation insurance finally contacts you and wants to interview you about the accident at work. You ask about your pay and your medical treatment and are told they are waiting for information from the employer. You continue to wait. You finally get to see a doctor and they recommend treatment. The treatment needs to be authorized by the insurance company. You wait. You finally get a small check. You are told that is your weekly rate but you are not sure how it is calculated. Additionally, you’ve now been out of work for four weeks. Shouldn’t you be getting pay for the back weeks? Your treatment is still not authorized, your case has been transferred to another worker, and you get notice that your medical insurance is being terminated.
Unfortunately, this nightmare is all too familiar in the world of workers’ compensation. This is the story – or a similar one – that we often hear during our initial consultations or phone calls with clients. While we cannot state that hiring us will result in no further delays or ill behavior on the part of the insurance company, we can state that we will thoroughly and zealously pursue your legal rights and obtain all your benefits as quickly as possible. We will also de-mystify the workers’ compensation process and keep you informed along the way so that you can concentrate on your recovery and getting back to work.
These are some of the things that often give us an edge to winning workers’ compensation cases for our clients:
- We have a paralegal very familiar with workers’ compensation law and who is dedicated to following-up with the doctors, the insurance company, and any other entity necessary to keep your case moving forward.
- Very frequent communication with our clients so we are on top of all current medical treatment recommendations, the client’s physical status, and other needs of the client. This gives us the ability to quickly respond to the opposing party, medical providers and/or the workers’ compensation commissioners.
- We track our time and efforts of each case just like we would a billable hour case. Most attorneys do not do this for workers’ compensation because the fee is based on a percentage of benefits as opposed to an hourly rate. This extra effort is invaluable when we have to report to the Commission regarding our efforts to obtain a particular benefit or negotiate with opposing counsel. It give us credibility and leverage.
- We aggressively seek accountability if there is an undue delay or unreasonable contest to your benefits. While we work with opposing counsel in a respectful and amicable manner, we are not afraid to insist on timely management of your case and seek sanctions and attorney’s fees when and where appropriate.
