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Contact A Brooklyn Workers’ Compensation Attorney
Workers Compensation Lawyer Brooklyn Work injury or work-related ailments can ruin any business. They are simply bad for business productivity and morale. Moreover, they can be expensive in terms of higher insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs. Making a culture that gives importance to office safety is essential for organizations to reduce such risks. Moreover, it is necessary to ensure your organization is sufficiently covered with workers’ compensation insurance. To help you out in this situation, our workers’ compensation lawyer in Brooklyn is here.
At Brooklyn Injury Attorneys, P.C., we understand how companies and the system work. We will fight fiercely until you are paid what you are owed and keep you informed every step of the way.
What is Workers’ compensation?
Workers’ compensation is an insurance policy that is compulsory for all employees. It offers lost wages, medical expenses, and recovery expenses to employees who have suffered a work injury or become sick due to their jobs. Furthermore, it is beneficial for the families of employees who die in their workplace.
Types of Benefits Available
Workers’ compensation benefits employees as it’s a kind of insurance. They can use this policy to get financial support through medical treatment and wage replacement. Let’s have a look at different types of benefits:
1. Medical Treatment
If someone suffers from a workplace accident due to their work, he can file a claim to pay for his medical treatment. This policy helps employees pay for their losses.
- Rehabilitation equipment
- Doctors’ appointments
- Treatment and recovery
- Medications
- Emergency room and hospital visits
An employee needs continuous care to recover from an extreme illness or work injury. Generally, workers’ comp covers these expenses, but it may not cover a few kinds of alternative treatment, like
- Homoeopathic medications
- Naturopathic therapy
- Acupuncture
If a work injury or ailment causes another health problem for employees, this benefit policy can still be helpful.
2. Wage Replacement
Some wage replacement plans create this kind of benefit. Every plan depends on the injury time and its impact on the employee’s earning capacity. If a worker needs time for recovery, this payment can help him replace a particular amount of his lost income.
If a worker dies, his lost wages will go to his family instead. The amount his family gets relies on state regulations.
3. Disability
Often, a workplace accident can make a worker disabled. Generally, work-related disability is classified into four categories:
- Permanent Total Disability
This policy benefit is available for employees whose disability has made them fully unable to return to work. In short, it provides them with a constant income source.
- Temporary Total Disability
This benefit is offered to injured employees who are temporarily incapable of working because of their work injury. Nevertheless, they can resume work after a few days at their complete ability.
- Permanent Partial Disability
This implies that injured employees can return to work at their previous ability.
- Temporary Partial Disability
This payment is provided to injured employees who have returned to work after an injury. They cannot work at complete ability due to partial disability.
If a disabled worker needs time for recovery, workers’ compensation can help them in rehabilitation. Also, it helps him recover lost wages until he returns to work. And if the worker becomes permanently disabled, workers’ comp can offer him lifelong disability advantages. This advantage varies in every state. Hence, ensure to know how disability payments work in your state.
4. Rehabilitation
Workers’ compensation can help rehabilitate employees who have been continuously cared for. This incorporates continuous medical treatment or vocational recovery to help employees obtain new skills and return to work in a distinct role. This policy can also help cover every new certification and training.
A disabled worker may acquire transferable skills and analysis skills. This helps him discover other roles to work with his disability and learn new skills. Generally, the worker is assigned a vocational counselor to perform this assessment. The counselor can also help the worker discover new education or training.
Many workers’ comp programs provide two years of vocational rehabilitation. At this time, a worker can still enjoy financial advantages for his lost income.
5. Death & Funeral Services
Unfortunately, if someone dies due to a work injury or ailment, workers’ compensation offers advantages to his beneficiaries and family. These advantages help them cover lost wages and funeral expenditures. Every coverage plan has a limit for these costs, and they vary by state.
Your insurance agency can ignore these costs if they find something unimportant or fake. In most cases, close friends or family members staying with the demised worker receive benefits. A few states don’t permit kids older than 18 to get death benefits. However, there is an exception for disabled kids.
Steps To Take To File Your Case
Follow these tips to protect the rights of your work injury:
1. Report Your Work Injury in No Time
If you get injured or become ill at work, report the injury to the supervisor instantly. Also, give the supervisor as much information as possible regarding your work-related injury and ailment you are suffering from. The insurance company can deny your claim if you can’t report your injury timely.
2. Ensure to File Your Claim Precisely
Both employer and worker should do documentation. They should fill out the claim form correctly and in detail. Hence, ensure that the employer writes everything correctly and remember to check it at least twice. Moreover, you should ask for your employer’s records.
3. Ask for Medical Help
You need a doctor as early as possible if you experience a work injury. Even if the cure for your symptoms happens eventually, you should seek medical help to confirm that you are okay. If you don’t request medical attention ASAP, the insurance agency won’t believe the injury happened as you said. And they may deny paying for your expenses.
4. Give a Precise Injury History to the Doctor
When a doctor examines you for your work injury, provide him with the appropriate history of all your injuries. Don’t forget to tell him the time and location of your injury and where you are having pain. Also, you must provide the physician with all the details regarding your past accidents and injuries.
5. Know What Your Insurance Covers
Workers’ compensation insurance policy covers physical injuries caused by accident and disease. Advantages, incorporating disability and medical treatment, are usually paid without regard to who is responsible for the injury or accident. These benefits usually won’t apply where an injury occurs due to criminal offense, suicide, self-inflicted injuries, or illegal substance use.
6. Hire An Experienced Lawyer
If you have queries about whether the insurance agency will approve your claim, you must contact a workers’ compensation lawyer in Brooklyn. Sometimes, injured employees believe that they must not contact any lawyer as it’s a disservice to their organization. However, you can be guaranteed that employers also have workplace injury attorneys to shield their rights. You must also have an attorney to ensure the insurance agency approves your claim.
How Does Filing A Claim Work?
The injured employee should visit a medical expert instantly so he can provide medical reports to support the employee’s claims. Then, the worker can start filing the claim, being sure to add every state-specific form or documentation. When the insurance company approves the claim, the receiver will receive benefits. He can get back to work when he feels he is okay with it.
When Do You Need to Hire the Workers’ Compensation Attorney?
The right time for hiring an attorney is instantly after getting an injury. An experienced lawyer can guide you through filing a compensation claim and receiving the benefits you deserve.
Are you going for anything associated with receiving your benefits? First, look for medical attention as early as possible. After all, you should not risk further injury, even if it is comparatively minor.
Regarding your claim, you should consider that every state has its statute of limitations. Under these limitations, you must receive medical treatment from doctors on your employer’s list of healthcare providers on time.
Why You Must Hire a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
Your work injury is comparatively minor in a perfect case. Hence, you will undoubtedly receive benefits. However, not all workspace accidents happen in ideal circumstances. Based on your condition, you may require hiring an attorney. This ensures you get the payment you need.
Let’s have a sneak peek at why you need to hire one of the workers’ compensation lawyers in Brooklyn.
1. Deciding Your Eligibility
Not every employee can enjoy workers’ comp advantages. If you are eligible, you must file a claim immediately after an injury. But you can’t attempt to file a claim if you are not eligible.
According to the basic rule, most employees are eligible for benefits in many states. However, exceptions are there. To ensure your eligibility before filing, you should discuss your situation with an experienced lawyer.
2. Fulfilling All Legal Needs
If you can claim workers’ comp, you can fulfill all your state’s legal needs to receive the benefits successfully. A few instances of basic legal needs incorporate:
- Being capable of showcasing that you are suffering from a work injury
- Visiting a licensed medical professional
- Reporting your injury to the supervisor or employer on time
Every state has different legal needs. And you might not just fulfill these conditions to receive benefits for your work-related injury. Do not try to handle your compensation claim on your own. Make sure to hire a work injury lawyer. You cannot receive the advantages you deserve if you fail to fulfill your state’s legal needs.
3. Handling the Insurance Agency
You cannot get benefits just by filing a claim. Many organizations have insurance in place to protect their employees. This implies that looking for advantages generally means handling your employer’s insurance agency.
While this goes seamlessly, sometimes it does not. Injured employees can experience many difficulties during the claim procedure. Hence, it is strongly advisable to hire a workers’ compensation attorney. He can handle everything with the insurance agency on your behalf.
4. Looking for Additional Compensation
If you get injured at work, filing for workers’ comp is not the sole choice. From filing Social Security disability benefits to a personal injury claim, many other choices are available. An expert lawyer can assess all these options and make a plan to secure the utmost payout.
5. Making Your Case Stronger in Court
Not every case gets settled in the office conference room. A few cases go for trial before a judge as well. This can be time-consuming, expensive, and tough for somebody representing himself. Moreover, it can be challenging to display the case in the best possible way.
While recovering from an injury or sickness, will you check medical records, follow witnesses, or file motions and petitions? Workers Compensation Lawyer Brooklyn will try their best to complete all the legal documentation. After all, he knows you don’t have the legal knowledge, and you must work in his favor. He is confident enough to prevent you from making any mistake that can ruin your case.
Hence, without taking any chance, you should hire one of the dedicated attorneys or workers’ compensation lawyers in Brooklyn. His experience can help you go through the judicial system and get the benefits you seek.
Hire a Brooklyn Workers Compensation Lawyer
You should consider many things while hiring a work injury lawyer. The process can be tedious for you, from medical treatments to getting your benefits. This is more difficult if you get a disability due to the injury.
Talk to an experienced law firm for the initial case assessment to get all the benefits you deserve. Every second is essential after an injury. So, let the Workers’ Compensation lawyer in Brooklyn instruct you through the procedure from start to end, using his skills to your legal benefit.