Workers' Compensation - What to do when you get hurt on the job
Workers’ Compensation - Protect Your Rights
Like most Americans, you work hard for a living – you work because your family depends on you, your company depends on you, and you want to contribute to the economy of our great nation.
But what happens to you when you get hurt on the job?
Your company may love you but they have a workers compensation insurance company handling your case and making decisions that are critically important to you - impacting your health, medical care and finances.
And that insurance company is looking out for its own interests - not yours.
After years of hard work and making money for your company, the insurance company may be looking at your case with suspicion or indifference. They may try to control your medical care, influence your doctors, pay you benefits much lower than you should get, or deny your claim altogether.
We're here to help you by providing information, helping solve your problems and protecting your rights. That's all we do.
We only help people. We don't represent insurance companies.
Won't the workers’ compensation insurance company take care of you?
We published an entire book on D.C. workers compensation because we were sick of all the misinformation out there - a lot of it coming from the very insurance companies that are supposed to pay workers’ compensation benefits when you can't work or provide for your dependents if you are killed on the job.
These days many employers and their insurance companies make money by limiting the amount of compensation you can receive, what kind of medical treatment the insurance company will pay for, and how long you will receive benefits.
And they never tell you what you need to do to protect your rights.
They may tell you they require a signed authorization (which allows them to get all of your medical information since birth) to start your benefits or tell you they require a written statement about your injury. They try to get you to record a statement or telephone interview that could later be used against you.
They may even have a "nurse case manager" come to your house to see if she can "help" with your medical treatment and your case. And she will help - the insurance company.
They will deny your claim if you don’t file your paperwork in time, or they may deny your claim because they say they don't have all your medical reports (even though they have the hospital reports and doctors' notes that say you fractured your ankle when a scaffold collapsed and it was witnessed by 3 other employees and a foreman took you to the hospital).
They may hire a private investigator to secretly videotape you looking for anything to deny your claim. They try to get you to go see one of their doctors. They find ways to pay the least amount possible for your medical treatment.
And if you were injured in Washington D.C., the insurance company may try to pay you a lower compensation amount under the Maryland or Virginia laws.
And your employer may have changed its attitude as well.
Once you're hurt on the job, they may find fault with everything you do or everything you've ever done. They could offer you a light-duty position so that you can go back to work sooner – but what if they don't accomodate your doctor's restrictions? And what if you refuse to accept that position – could your benefits be cut off? Or, if you are back at work after an injury and your employer asks you to do more than your doctor said you could – and you agree to do it – could you lose your right to compensation and medical treatment?.
The bottom line is the insurance company knows the law and they use it to their advantage. Do you? You can probably see now why it is so important to have somebody on your side who can protect your rights for you and your family.
If you think we are the right firm for you, call us today.
But don't wait. Sometimes we have to turn people away because they have made mistakes in their case (without knowing or meaning to) that we just can't fix.
Don't let that happen to you and your family.
WARNING:
If you were seriously hurt at work don't talk to any insurance adjuster, nurse case manager, give a recorded statement or sign anything until you read Protect Your Rights: The Injured Worker's Guide to D.C. Workers' Compensation or talk to an experienced lawyer.
Protect Your Rights is a 75 page book on D.C. workers compensation and is available free to anyone who has been hurt at work or any family member of anyone hurt on the job.
Written by nationally recognized, Board Certified trial attorney Frank R. Kearney, this book explains your rights and responsibilities - everything the insurance company won't do.
Blog for Workers' Compensation
Library for Workers' Compensation:
- On Workers compensation? The insurance company can be watching and videotaping your every move, discussing your case with your neighbors and following your family.
Workers Compensation Insurance Companies will videotape you if you're hurt at work in D.C. - Doctors often tell their workers compensation patients that they can only work light duty. But does an employer have to provide light duty to someone on workers compensation?
When you get hurt at work and can't do your regular job, is light duty available? - Injured at work in D.C., Maryland or Virginia or working for a D.C., Maryland or Virginia company when you got hurt on the job? Where do you file your workers compensation case - and where does the insurance company want you to file?
Workers compensation benefits are different in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. - Injuries and Deaths at Work: Falls are the Leading Cause of Death in residential construction. For workers working at heights of 6 feet or more, learn how to protect yourself from on the job falls. [PDF]
Workers Compensation Death claims and construction worker injuries and deaths can be reduced by following OSHA's fall protection guide. - No injured worker should go to an IME without reading this article to learn why the "I" should stand for insurance - not independent. [PDF]
An injured worker with a workers comp claim often gets a letter from the insurance adjuster or nurse case manager scheduling an "Independent Medical Exam." Learn why these insurance exams are hardly independent. - Here's what you do when you're hurt at work in D.C. [PDF]
What do you do when you get hurt on the job in D.C.? This short article focuses on basic workers' compensation rights for injured workers, including an injured worker's rights to medical treatment and workers compensation benefits. - For immediate release: Protect Your Rights: The Injured Workers Guide to D.C. Workers' Compensation, a book that is a practical guide to D.C. work injuries, written by Frank R. Kearney, will be published in November 2009. [PDF]
Workers injured on the job in D.C. are fed a constant diet of misinformation regarding their rights under workers compensation from insurance companies trying to keep their benefits down. This book, available in November 2009, sets the record straight and provides injured workers and their families the information they need to protect their rights. - DC Workers Compensation Forms [PDF]
If you are hurt on the job in D.C. you must file two forms with the D.C. Office of Workers Compensation to protect your rights to workers compensation benefits. Many employers don't give you these forms, but they are available here. - Injured Workers: File D.C. Workers Compensation Claim Forms
If you're hurt at work, your employer should give you the forms to file a D.C. workers compensation claim. Many employers don't give these forms to injured workers. You can download them here for free. - Derechos de los trabadores heridos (Rights of workers injured in D.C. - Spanish version) [PDF]
Derechos de los trabadores heridos en D.C. - D.C. Workers Compensation Benefit Increase
The maximum compensation rate for employees injured or killed on the job has increased as of January 1, 2009. This cap applies to injured workers receiving temporary total disability benefits or to the families receiving death benefits after a fatal work accident. Workers receiving permanent total disability benefits and families receiving death benefits are also entitled to supplemental annual increases. - D.C. Workers Compensation Maximum Benefit Rates [PDF]
D.C. Workers Compensation Benefit Rates for On the Job Injuries and Death - Fatal work injuries and occupational diseases in DC, Virginia and Maryland
Fatal on the job accidents in DC, Virginia and Maryland - D.C. construction worker awarded permanent total disability workers compensation benefits [PDF]
A construction worker who injured his back working in D.C. was awarded permanent total disability benefits following a workers compensation hearing. Permanent total disability benefits are available for life and will increase by a cost of living adjustment every year. - If someone can't return to work because of their work injury, they may be entitled to Permanent Total Disability.
Permanent Total Disability is available for workers hurt on the job or permanently disabled due to job related illness if the injury or disease is permanent and the injured worker cannot return to work. - Permanent partial disability for injured workers
Injured workers are often entitled to permanent partial disability benefits in DC, Virginia and Maryland workers compensation cases. - Workers Compensation information - en espanol [PDF]
Articulos informativos de accidentes laborales.
Workers compensation information available in Spanish. - You're hurt at work. You've heard about workers compensation. But how does it work?
Workers compensation protects workers injured on the job. Workers compensation laws are complex and injured workers need to protect their rights to benefits. - En Espanol - Accidentes Laborales [PDF]
Accidentes laborales DC
Work injuries
Latino workers
DC workers compensation Spanish speaking - DC Workers' Compensation Rights [PDF]
District of Columbia Workers Compensation Rights fact sheet published by the D.C. Office of Workers Compensation.
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