An injury or illness can put your life on hold, limiting your ability to work and engage in your favorite activities, and when it happens in the workplace, you have the benefit of workers’ compensation insurance. Being injured on the job when you are just trying to generate income to support your family is an unfortunate experience. While workers’ compensation is meant to cover your out-of-pocket expenses, to receive benefits, you must successfully file an application, have it approved, and begin receiving benefits sufficient to cover your related costs.
One of our experienced Milpitas workers’ compensation lawyers is here to answer any questions you might have and help with the entire process.
Some of the Common Work-Related Injuries
Injuries and illnesses on the job happen more often than you generally hear about, as there were 2.8 million nonfatal work-related injuries and illnesses in 2019 alone, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Construction work and truck drivers regularly experience incidents like motor vehicle accidents or falls, although even office workers experience some injuries quite regularly.
When you have been in a collision or a fall, common injuries include soft tissue damage, concussions or traumatic brain injury (TBI), bone fractures, neck and back injury, and nerve damage and numbness. For office workers, repetitive stress injury is common, which is damage to the soft tissues and nerves as a result of engaging in the same repetitive motion over and over again.
When you have been injured on the job, you are entitled to benefits through the workers’ compensation program of California.
How Workers’ Compensation Works in CA
The state of California has a no-fault workers’ compensation insurance system in place, which means that you receive benefits regardless of who was at fault in the accident or condition that caused the injury or illness. At the same time, you are not able to file a lawsuit against your employer for those same damages.
This means that you as a worker are protected in that your claim cannot be denied due to fault, and your employer is protected from lawsuits. The benefits available are meant to cover the short and long-term costs associated with your injury, though you need to make sure you are awarded the full benefits you deserve.
What Workers’ Comp Benefits Can I Seek in Milpitas?
The benefits available through workers’ compensation are meant to replace your lost earnings due to the injury while covering the costs that are linked to the medical needs associated with the injury. The medical bills that are covered by workers’’ compensation insurance are not limited to your emergency medical care, but also any short- or long-term treatment needs that you might have, including ER treatment, surgery and hospitalization, medications and medical equipment, and any rehabilitation or treatment that you might require.
Compensation for your lost earnings includes both short-term lost wages when you are recovering from the injury, as well as any long-term impact upon your ability to work or return to a position at work that pays as well as before your injury. When your ability to work is impacted, you could be entitled to temporary or permanent disability payments for your disability, which can be either partial or total.
The extent of your injuries and their impact on your working ability is best measured by an occupational expert, and a workers’’ compensation attorney in your area can recommend such professionals. Evidence supports your claim and the size of your benefits, and an experienced workers’ compensation attorney knows what to include in your application or appeal.
How to File Your Workers’ Compensation Claim
Filing your workers’ compensation claim is the first step towards collecting your benefits, and keep in mind that it is not automatic. After your injury or illness, it is up to you to get the application, accurately fill it out with sufficient supporting evidence, and then submit it to your employer. Your employer then fills out their portion and submits it to the insurance company. To keep track of timelines and to ensure that your employer files their part in a timely manner, using a time-stamped delivery method for your application like certified mail is recommended, or this is something a workers’ compensation attorney can handle for you.
Once our claim has been submitted to the workers’’ compensation attorney from your employer, the insurance company and their team of claim adjusters and investigators will pore over the application and evidence to determine if it is sufficient to require them to pay out.
Insurance companies do not work for you, they work for profit, which is made by maximizing revenues while minimizing expenses. Revenue for workers’ compensation insurance companies comes from the premiums they collect from employers, and their costs they try to reduce are the benefits they pay. Therefore, they try to reduce benefits payments whenever possible.
Issues Can Emerge Against Your Claim
Workers’ compensation insurance companies maximize their profits by paying out on as few claims as possible, and for those claims that are paid out on, by paying as little as possible on them. Insurance companies may claim that your application was incomplete or incorrect and deny it based upon that alone. The insurance company might assert that your injury is not as severe as you claim or your doctor found it to be. They might require you to go to one of their doctors who might find the severity of your injury to be lower so that the insurance company can pay out less. The insurance company could also claim that the injury was not caused by a work-related accident or condition or that it was pre-existing.
Connect with a Milpitas Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Now
Knowing how to respond to a denial of your workers’ compensation claim requires a knowledge of the process and of what the insurance company is looking for when determining whether to approve your claim or not. An experienced workers’ compensation attorney knows how to support the success of your initial claim or how to effectively win on appeal. To explore options on your claim, schedule a consultation today.