OVERVIEWS

Workers' Compensation: Injury During Employment

Personal Injury Overviews

When an employee is injured during the course and scope of his employment, the manner by which he is compensated changes considerably. Up until now, we have discussed how an attorney represents his client by demanding compensation from the person who is at fault for the injuries. The attorney uses methods that include litigation, arbitration, or maybe just an intimidating demand letter. However, the methods change in situations where his client is an injured employee.

Individual states and the federal government have specifically created laws that compensate persons who are injured while at work, and the laws do not focus much on blaming anyone for the injury. Instead, an employer must pay the compensation to his injured employee merely because the employee was injured while on the job. This is a bit of an overstatement of the rules, and there are exceptions, but it is generally true. The catch? Employees are not eligible to sue the employer in court for the injury. Instead, they must settle for what the workers' compensation laws require the employer to pay.

Employees can make these claims against their employers without an attorney. They usually must report their injury to a supervisor or personnel manager who then reviews their claim. A few inquiries are made and some paperwork is filed, and a determination is made using the workers' compensation laws as to whether or not the employee is eligible for compensation, and how much compensation the employee is entitled to. However, disputes often arise because the employee and employer disagree on the circumstances surrounding the injury or the amount to which the employee is entitled.

An attorney can help the employee with his claim. He generally does this by assisting the employee with the paperwork, directing the employee to receive an accurate medical diagnosis, and, if necessary, representing the employee in an administrative hearing. Injured employees, who do not feel comfortable with the process of filing their claim or with the decisions made by their employer may want to hire a personal injury attorney.

 
 
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