ON THE JOB INJURIES
If you are injured on the job, there are two potential sources of compensation for your injuries. The first is workman compensation benefits paid by the state or a private insurer for your employer. You can receive this type of compensation without regard to how your injury was caused or who caused it so long as you were injured while engaged in activities associated with your employment.
If you are injured on the job, you will invariably be entitled to the payment of those benefits. That may or may not require the services of a lawyer. The advantages of immediately seeking help from a qualified workers compensation lawyer is the likelihood of the mistakes that you might make handling the claim yourself are greatly reduced. The disadvantages of hiring a lawyer is that the lawyer will probably start collecting fees from your wage loss benefits immediately although it turns out that the claim resolves easily without the necessity of having a lawyer at all. It will later be explained how you can best protect yourself if you don’t immediately hire a lawyer to represent you on your workers compensation claim.
The second potential source of compensation arises if your injury was caused by someone other than your employer. These are called third-party tort claims. For instance, if you are driving a car as a part of your employment and another driver causes a collision and injures you, you have a claim against the other driver in addition to your claim for workers compensation benefits. I have had cases like this, where for example, a home-care nurse is injured in a car accident on her way to tend to an elderly person. Another example would be if your employment takes you to a job site owned and operated by some person or company other than your employer and you are injured by the negligence of the owner or general contractor of that job site. In the State of Washington, if you are working for a temp agency that places you on a job site, the owner or operator of that job site is probably liable if you are injured on an account of the condition of the job site or an act of negligence by the owner or operator of the job site, or one of their employees. In these instances, you have a third-party claim in addition to your workers compensation benefits.
However, if you receive a settlement from a third-party tort claim because of injuries during your employment, the state or a self-insurer who paid the workers compensation benefits will have a lien on your third-party recovery for the workers compensation benefits that were paid, which entitles them to be repaid out of the tort-claim settlement. The good news is that if there isn’t enough money to fully reimburse the state or the self-insurer from the proceeds of the third-party tort claim, you are guaranteed the payment of at least some of the money from that claim and the State or the workers compensation insurer will have to accept less than the total of the workers compensation benefits that were paid out.
A personal injury attorney at Sellers law office handles only third-party tort claims. If you also have a workers compensation claim, we will associate a workers compensation attorney, or refer you to one.
The advantage of workers compensation benefits is that if you are injured, and you are entitled to workers compensation benefits, those benefits should be paid immediately and you won’t have to wait for the settlement of the third-party tort claim to get money. Workers compensation benefits normally include both the cost of the medical services rendered to you and your lost wages. Sometimes vocational retraining is paid. However, medical services and wage loss benefits are only paid in accordance with pre-set schedules that establish the amounts that are paid. The good news is that doctors and medical service providers being paid with these benefits are required to accept the amount that is established, and you don’t have to pay more. The not-so-good news is that you may not receive as much wage loss as the wages that you were earning before you were injured. In some instances, workers compensation benefits include the payment of settlement and pensions upon the close of your workers compensation claim.
Workers compensation claims must be filed in Washington within one year of injury. Often this is done by the doctors or medical provider who is treating you. If they know that your injury occurred while you were on the job, these providers are required to notify the state and their compensation is limited to the workers compensation benefits that are paid. The moral to this is that if you are hurt on the job, you should immediately submit a workers compensation claim irrespective of what state that you are working in.
Doctors are required to furnish you with the claim form. However, you should see that it is submitted to the state or a self-insurer yourself, and you should check with the state or the self-insurer to see that it was received. These are steps that should be taken, at a minimum, to protect yourself if you are not being represented by a lawyer for your workers compensation claim:
1. File the workers’ compensation claim within one year.
2. Tell your doctor that the injury occurred on the job. If the doctor feels there is an on-the-job injury, the doctor is required to provide you with a claim form and provide assistance filling it out. The doctor is also required to mail the form to the Department of Labor & Industries on Washington claims. If the employer is self-insured, you will need to contact the employer, ask for an Accident Report form, and return the completed form to the employer. If you are an Oregon worker, tell your employer right away about your injury and fill out a Form 801 and turn it in to your employer. If you have any problem consult with an Oregon Workers Compensation Attorney immediately. The deadline in Oregon depends on the circumstances but it may be as quick as 30 days.
3. Once you and your doctor have completed the form, you need to check with the Department of Labor and Industries of the State of Washington (Washington Claims) in about a week to make sure that the application was received within a year of the injury.
The key to knowing when you absolutely need to hire a workers compensation attorney is whenthe state or a self-insurer starts to deny or take away benefits. You need to do the following to protect your rights:
1. Look in the mail or your email for letters or orders taking action on your claim, usually limiting or terminating some or all of your workers compensation benefits. If Sellers Law Office is handling your third-party tort claim, you must notify that office immediately. If James L. Sellers is your personal injury attorney who is handling your third-party tort claim, his office will tell you what to do or it will associate a workers compensation lawyer, or refer you to one.
2. If you disagree with the action being taken, you must write a letter stating your disagreement and put it into the U.S. mail to the address given on the order and within the time limits set forth in the order. Most State orders have a 60-day deadline to protest or appeal. The one exception is for vocational determinations (i.e., a letter denying retraining), which has a 15-day deadline. Each order must advise you how long you have to protest or appeal the order.
3. If you have a workers compensation lawyer, tell the lawyer and he/she will handle the protest or appeal of the action that was taken. If James L. Sellers is your personal injury attorney who is handling your third-party tort claim, his office will tell you what to do or it will associate a workers compensation lawyer, or refer you to one.
Feel free to call for an appointment or a phone conference at no charge.
