UFC Fighters Hurt In Illinois Should File For Workers’ Compensation

By Mike Helfand on Posted in Do I Have a Case?

Maybe 15-20 years ago I watched a lot of UFC fights. It was new. It was different. It was exciting. After a while it started to become not very interesting to me.  Part of that was due to my perception as to how the company treated its fighters including dictating who could show up as a sponsor on their clothing.  I’m pro-employee/worker so anything that happens to limit income is a turn off to me.

Over this past weekend there was a UFC event in Anaheim featuring a heavyweight title bout with Francis Ngannou. I didn’t watch it, but read this ESPN article about the weekend that caught my eye.

According to the report, before the fight, Ngannou’s agent got a letter from the UFC threatening to sue him for talking to a boxing promotion about a possible fight for Ngannou.  That appears to be a no-no under the UFC contract.

Ngannou is under a contract that required a certain amount of fights. Saturday was to be his last one if he lost, but since he won he has to stick with the UFC for another year or three more fights, whichever comes earlier. This is known as a champions clause.

He’d like to stay with the UFC, but also wants to box. He’s not happy at how much he’s paid and while he was offered more money for the last fight, that would have involved tacking on more fights to his contract.  Ngannou says it’s “a question of freedom as an independent contractor, which UFC fighters are legally classified as.”

And this is where Illinois law gets involved. Just because you sign a contract saying you are an independent contractor, that doesn’t mean you are one. Under Illinois workers’ compensation law, when the employer has control over you, it shows that you might in reality be an employee. The more control they have over you, the more likely it is you will prove you are truly an employee. If you do that, you win.

Some things that show control include:

  • Preventing you from working for other employers or competitors.
  • Providing a uniform.
  • They provide the equipment you use.
  • Setting your schedule.
  • The company can cancel the contract.

All of these things happen reportedly to UFC fighters.  While it’s not a slam dunk case as fighters train on their own, the things that they have to do to get compensation all seem to make them an employee similar to other professional athletes. If that’s the case and they get hurt in Illinois (or hired in Illinois) then they can file for workers’ compensation benefits here.

It will of course take one brave fighter to be the one to test this out. That will probably end up being an ex-UFC fighter who is either with a different promotion or unable to fight anymore because of injury.  As Ngannou said:

“I just want to be free. We are supposedly independent contractors. [An] independent contractor is technically a free person. That’s the reason why they need some adjustments in that contract. That’s what I’ve been fighting for.”

Just like truck drivers or other workers who commonly get mis-classified as contractors, the facts of UFC work will likely show that they are employees if push comes to shove. And if so, they can get 100% of their MMA injuries paid for by the UFC, get paid for their time off work and paid for how their injury will affect them in the future.

Shoulder Injury At Work? You Must Know This

By Mike Helfand on Posted in Benefits

By far the number one question we get from injured Illinois workers is, “What is my case worth?”  That makes sense. If you are missing time from work, it can greatly impact your life financially. It’s natural to be curious about how you will be compensated in the end.

One unknown thing from just about every injured Illinois worker I talk to about settlements has to do with the issue of credits for prior injury. I try to talk in plain English and will attempt to do so here, but this involves breaking down a legal concept that isn’t common sense. So if you have any questions about this or I’m not being clear, please fill out my contact form or call me at 888-705-1766.  Misunderstanding how this works could cost you tens of thousands of dollars if you have an arm injury from the job.

When we settle work comp cases, a lot of factors come in to play. Your wages, medical treatment, ultimate recovery, age and any controversies all factor in to the value.  So to does the body part involved. Each body part has been assigned a value of up to 100% disability. For example, a foot is valued at 167 weeks of disability. If you lost 100% use of your foot, your settlement would be 167 times your permanency rate which is 60% of your wage.  If you weekly wages were $1,000.00, your permanency rate would be $600.00.  And if you lost 100% use of your foot, you’d end up with $100,200.00 which is 167 weeks times $600.

Now in almost no case does someone get a 100% loss unless there is an amputation. So if you had a disability rating of 30% loss of your foot, you’d get 50.1 weeks of benefits (167 x .3 = 50.1). Hopefully this makes sense so far. Now comes the important part.

If you had one settlement for 30% loss of a foot, if you ever had an additional injury to that foot, your employer would get a credit for any additional injury. In other words, if your next case resulted in a 40% disability, they’d only have to pay you 10% in new money. If you had a minor injury like a foot sprain, they’d probably have to pay you nothing.

Like I said, each body part is assigned a different value. A leg is 215 weeks. The arm is 253 weeks. Neck, head and back injuries are called “man as a whole” because when you hurt that part of your body, it impacts everything. As a result they are worth up to 500 weeks of benefits, by far the most valuable injury you can have. On top of that, the insurance company doesn’t get a credit if you have a new injury. So you could have a 25% man as a whole injury two years ago from a back problem. If you re-hurt your back (neck or head too) and got an injury worth 35%, you’d get all of that money without any deduction for the old problem.

Stick with me, because here’s where it gets really important. The shoulder most people would say is part of the arm and it was that way at the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission until 2012. At that time, a case called Will County Forest Preserve somehow decided that shoulder injuries should be considered “man as a whole” which means that if you had previously hurt your arm and got a settlement for a loss of the arm, if you now hurt your shoulder, the insurance company gets no credit.

This was and is a controversial ruling and there has been a lot of discussion about the legislature over-ruling it. But here we are ten years later and nothing has changed.  That said, we still see insurance companies and defense attorneys trying to makes settlements for rotator cuff and other shoulder problems as loss of an arm, not loss of a man as a whole. They want to do this because if in the future you were to hurt your elbow, forearm, etc., that case would be worth much less.

We also see workers who hurt there shoulder before the law changed and got a settlement for loss of use of the arm. Now years later they have a new shoulder injury and the insurance company wants to get a credit from the old case. That’s not how the law works and only a weak attorney would let them get away with it.  That type of mistake would cost you tens of thousands of dollars and should never happen.

This isn’t an easy subject to write on clearly, but it’s really important for injured Illinois workers to know about. If you have ANY questions please do not hesitate to reach out. It will always be free and confidential.

Illinois Work Comp When You Are Shot

By Mike Helfand on Posted in Do I Have a Case?

We are work injury attorneys in Chicago with over 24 years of experience. If you would like a free consultation, call us any time at 312-346-5578.  We help with cases everywhere in Illinois.

Did you know that not every injury that occurs at work is covered by the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act?  Your injury has to arise out of your job duties and happen during the course of your job duties. So even if something crazy happens like getting shot while working, you aren’t automatically covered. We have to look at what happened that caused you to get shot and what you were doing at the time.

A good example of the legal analysis we do is shown by a recent case against the state of Illinois.  A worker was processing unemployment claims out of the Chicago office. He was returning from a break when he got shot at the entrance to the building. During his testimony he said they were required to leave the building when on break and go outside. He said it was his perception that it’s a really dangerous neighborhood and that he’d seen fights, gang members and occasionally heard gun shots.  Right before getting shot he heard someone yell, “Hey unemployment.”

While he was fortunate that the gin shot only grazed his head, he did suffer a psychiatric injury and had to be transferred to another job location.

This worker won his case.  It arose out of his employment duties based on the shooter yelling “Hey unemployment.” That showed it wasn’t a random act, but instead happened due to his job duties. And even though he was on break outside the building, his testimony showed that he was in the course of his job duties. It was a sanctioned break near an entrance he was required to use. That made this area an extension of his workplace.

A key factor though was the unrebutted testimony that it was a dangerous neighborhood.  That increased the credibility of his being shot being related to his job duties and that his work increased his risk of being shot.  There is Illinois case law that says if you work in a dangerous neighborhood and are assaulted on the clock, that alone is enough to win your case.  That’s because you aren’t just someone who is in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in an area with an increased likelihood of an attack.

Two important points from this case:

1. The lawyer on this case did a great job, especially when they first interviewed this client.  It was important to know about the neighborhood, what happened right before they were shot and most importantly that they had to take a break outside of the office. Many lawyers would not look that far and assume that if he was outside the building it’s not a case.

2. The State of Illinois will fight cases that clearly should not be fought and if you want to get benefits from them you often have to go to trial. A close look at the facts in this case, especially when you consider the State wasn’t arguing the facts, shows that this claim never should have been denied. I wish the worker’s attorney would have filed for penalties and fees because like many other cases against the State, this one was unreasonably denied.

 

You Shouldn’t Work Drunk And Illinois Work Comp Laws

By Mike Helfand on Posted in Do I Have a Case?

You probably don’t need advice from a lawyer to know that working while drunk isn’t a good idea. This is especially true if you are working in a non bar environment where nobody would expect you to have any drinks.

Generally speaking, if you are injured while intoxicated, there is a presumption that your drunkenness was the cause of your accident. But that doesn’t mean you can’t ever have an Illinois workers’ compensation case. It just means you have to prove that you being drunk wasn’t the reason you got hurt.

Some insurance companies try to put this burden upon you any time you’ve been drinking.  That’s not how the law works.  If you are tested for alcohol and come in at below .08, the burden then shifts to the insurance company to show that your drinking was the cause of the accident.

In a recent case, a warehouse employee arrived at 6:30 a.m. for his regular shift. His job duties involved picking orders and taking them to the correct area of the warehouse.  This included maneuvering pallets that weighed over 500 pounds.  While pulling on a stuck pallet he injured his back.

It turns out he had been drinking the night before his shift.  A post accident blood screen came in at .041. He testified that he did not feel drunk while at work. All that said, he was terminated due to the test.

His work comp case was also denied, but he went to trial and won. A toxicologist hired by the insurance company estimated that his BAL at the time of the accident was likely .061. Because there was no indication it could be above .08, that left it to the employer to prove his drinking played a role in him getting hurt. The insurance company offered no such evidence.

The injured worker on the other hand testified that he had no back pain prior to this happening and it was noted that he gave a consistent history to his medical providers.  Even though he had been fired, because he was authorized off of work, he was awarded TTD benefits by the Arbitrator for his time off along with payment of all medical bills and an award for his permanent disability from this.

This is certainly a case that didn’t look good at first, but this is why a good attorney takes a deep dive in to the facts of these cases and doesn’t assume there isn’t a case because something doesn’t sound good. I don’t predict we’ll see a lot of similar cases, but the bottom line is that you should never assume you don’t have a case and always talk to an experienced attorney first before making any decisions.

Costco Illinois Work Comp Cases – Is This Why I Don’t See Them?

By Mike Helfand on Posted in Tips if Injured

One of the great things about Illinois workers’ compensation law is that the law and how cases go doesn’t really change based on who the employer is.  By that I mean if your case is against Amazon which employs over 500,000 people nation wide or some mom and pop shop that has two employees, the case result should be the same if all of the facts are the same. And while Amazon and other corporate giants hire huge law firms to fight big cases, work comp claims are handled by one lawyer per case and they can’t bully you in to a bad result.

I’m in my 25th year of being an attorney and have been involved in tens of thousands of cases versus almost any employer you can think of. I’ve seen hundreds against Amazon, all the major airlines, Jewel, the City of Chicago, etc.  No company scares an attorney or creates problems because of how big they are.

If you’d asked me a month ago if there’s a big company I haven’t had a case against, I would have said no.  But then I read a tweet by Dan Price. He is a Seattle CEO who cut his own pay by $1 million and pays every worker at his company at least $70,000.  As a result his company has been incredibly successful and grown significantly.

In his tweet he pointed out the following differences between Walmart and Costco:

Minimum wage Costco: $17 Walmart: $12

Average pay Costco: $25 Walmart: $15

Average tenure Costco: 8 years Walmart: 3 years

Employees on food stamps Costco: Virtually none. Walmart: More than any other company

Oh and their prices are comparable which says a ton. What I realized when I read this tweet was that I don’t believe I’ve ever been involved in a case against Costco while I’ve had hundred of calls from Walmart employees who have been injured on the job.

To be fair, there are currently only 22 Costco’s in Illinois and about 170 Walmarts.  But if you look at a store with similar numbers like Mariano’s or Whole Foods (who by the way treat their employees way better than Walmart), I have been involved in many cases against both of them.

Now I’m not one to give employers legal advice. I only represent injured workers. But to me it’s clear that if you are worried about workers’ compensation costs in Illinois, the best thing you can probably do is pay your employees well and treat them well. That doesn’t mean that workers won’t ever get injured or file claims. What it does mean is that they are less likely to pursue cases or bring a suspect claim against you.

If you’ve ever been to a Costco, you’ll see mostly very happy employees. It’s a great place to work. As a result, according to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Website, they’ve had only 700 work injury cases here in the history of their company. That’s an incredibly low number.

Whether it’s Walmart or various staffing agencies that don’t always treat their workers well, the number of cases are way higher. When you don’t like your employer, you are more likely to bring a case. Many staffing agencies treat their workers as disposable. Treating them kinder and paying them better would work out better for them financially in the long run.

I’d bet I will get a Costco worker call me at some point and like any other case, if they have a legitimate injury and need help we will be happy to help them get the best lawyer for their case. But unlike cases against Walmart or a temp service where I get extra joy being involved against them, I won’t think of them any different than most of the places we take on.

 

 

Illinois Workers Comp When Your Chair Rolls

By Mike Helfand on Posted in Do I Have a Case?

Without hearing the facts, you likely wouldn’t think just sitting on a chair could lead to an Illinois workers’ compensation case.  People sit in chairs every day of course.

But for one City of Chicago worker recently and hundreds of others every year, there are legit cases of work injuries that happen from trying to sit down.

Many office chairs have wheels and with that comes the risk that the chair could roll out from under you when you try to sit down. In the case of the Chicago worker, she did data entry and had been employed for 22 years.  Usually she worked in a cubicle with carpet and a standard chair with wheels. On the day she got hurt though, her office space was undergoing renovations and she was relocated to a temporary cubicle with a tile floor.

When she sat down at her desk the chair rolled away from under her and she fell to the ground. The end result was an injury to her hip and back.

The City likes to fight cases and they did so on this one so it ended up being resolved via Arbitration at the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission.  And the dispute was not a close one.

The Work Comp Commission has consistently found that in cases where a worker uses a chair with wheels, it creates an increased risk of injury and accidents that result from that are considered to be compensable. It didn’t hurt that her testimony was un-rebutted  and credible.  The fact that she was moved to a tile floor made the chair move more easily and she didn’t have any problems with the chair on the carpet.

To me this was an absurd denial of benefits as the case law is crystal clear. If the chair didn’t have wheels it wouldn’t be a case. If the carpet prevented the chair from moving, the City might have had a legitimate argument. But when a wheeled chair is on a tile floor, it’s not surprising that it would move and someone could fall out of it when they tried to sit down. Even if she was distracted or careless that doesn’t matter as long as she wasn’t goofing off or engaged in horse play.

These type of ridiculous denials seem to happen more with Government employers than anyone else.  The good news and bottom line is that they are very winnable cases and the case law is extremely strong in favor of injured workers. And if we had been their lawyer we likely would have filed for penalties and fees against the City because not paying benefits without any reason needs to be punished.

Is There A Cap On Illinois Work Comp Settlements And Other Great Questions

By Mike Helfand on Posted in Tips if Injured
We have been helping injured workers in Illinois since 1997. If you would like a free consultation, please call us at 312-346-5578 or fill out our contact form.
I get so many good questions from injured Illinois workers. I like to keep a list of the ones that aren’t enough for a blog post and combine them in to one big post. In no particular order here are some great ones I got toward the end of 2021.
Is there a cap on workers compensation settlements? This is a question that is both a no and yes answer.  Theoretically there is no limit to what can be offered when you factor in payment of future medical bills.  But the reality is that each case is only worth a certain amount based on your age and injury. For example, wage differential payments end at age 65 assuming you are under 60.  Permanent disability cases pay for life, but are settled based on your life expectancy.  So while there is no cap, your case isn’t going to be worth millions either just because it’s a bad injury or the insurance company treated you poorly.
Can the insurance company ask the IME doctor for an addendum? Yes, this happens a lot. The insurance company will get the report and not like what it says and either provide additional information or ask for a clarification about something.  It’s shady at times, but perfectly legal.
Is it true that if I don’t work there anymore I can’t bring a case? This is not true at all. While it’s better for the case typically to file while you are still employed, you absolutely can file a case after you leave the job as long as it’s within the statute of limitations.
I’m a Texas flight attendant hurt in Chicago on layover. Work comp saying my case has to be done in my home state. Is that true? No, that is not true. Under Illinois law, if you are hurt here, you can file your case in Illinois.  For many people that’s a huge win as laws in places like Texas are terrible for injured workers.
Has Covid paused any statute of limitations? No. Any delay will punish you. Covid isn’t an excuse for court filing deadlines.
My job said I have not been employed long enough to be covered for work comp. Is that true? NO!!!  I hear this one a lot and it drives me crazy. It’s such an unethical lie. You are covered for Illinois workers compensation benefits the second you start working.
My case was previously approved before they cut off  my checks. How big a factor will that be at trial? It likely won’t be a factor at all. Payment of benefits is not an admission of liability. What might happen is that unless there is new evidence that shows they never should have paid in the first place is that the Arbitrator will look at their denial suspiciously.  But like any other case it all comes down to the facts.
I hope this helps. We LOVE answering questions. It’s always free and confidential so feel free to get in touch with us any time.

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission In 2022

By Mike Helfand on Posted in Tips if Injured

While Covid has disrupted everyone’s life, it truly blows me away how different the Illinois Workers’ Compensation system looks and operates now as compared to two years ago. For you, the injured worker, it’s important to figure out how your lawyer of choice has adapted to these changes and how this will affect your case.

Before Covid, attorneys would gather at hearing sites on a daily basis. For example, in Chicago the court location was the Thompson Center. You’d often go there to appear on one case, but also be looking for other lawyers to discuss other claims that weren’t on the court docket that day. You’d get to know other lawyers as well as the Arbitrators. These relationships would help all of your clients and really became a way to get things done.

Fast forward, all Cook County work comp claims are now at the Daley Center. You only show up there if you are actually going to Arbitration. This is true for hearing locations throughout Illinois. As a result, there are some lawyers that used to see each other 2-3 days a week who haven’t seen each other in two years.  If you are a younger lawyer, you have lost the chance to make these relationships which hurts your professional development and in turn hurts your clients.  There is talk of creating an area for attorneys to talk at the courthouse, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Now if a case is set for hearing, but isn’t going to trial, you check in online through Webex which is a system similar to Zoom.  This allows attorneys to handle cases anywhere in the State more easily because they don’t have to travel three hours to participate in a five minute hearing. They only have to show up if the case is actually going to trial.

Before Covid you could take the deposition of a doctor over the phone, but 98% of them were done in person. Now some lawyers will show up in person to the doctor’s office, but the majority of attorneys are doing the depositions via Zoom or the phone.  While this is convenient for lawyers who can do it from home, it might hurt your case if one attorney is in person and the other isn’t. Imagine a situation where we realize that the IME doctor never reviewed your MRI report. If I’m at home and the defense attorney is in person, they can easily hand that report to the doctor without me realizing it. The bottom line is that this new way can make some lawyers take short cuts which could hurt you.

Beyond that, we hear all the time from injured workers that their lawyer says it’s taking forever to settle cases and you can’t go to trial. That simply is not true. Cases are settling as usual.  Sometimes that happens after an online pre-trial, but more typically a case will get set for hearing, you will appear before an Arbitrator on Webex and that Arbitrator will send you to a breakout room to talk with the other attorney. Getting trials to happen is harder than “the old days” of two years ago, but they can happen if your attorney is aggressive. If your attorney doesn’t even try to make that happen, your case will probably settle for much less than it’s worth because all of their leverage will have been taken away. Smart defense attorneys know this.

In addition, court filings are now done electronically and medical records are typically digital. Some older attorneys have trouble adjusting to this new way of doing business.  This is one aspect of Covid that has made being an attorney more efficient if you are comfortable with technology. If you aren’t it’s a real struggle.

While it’s possible to do trials by Webex, no smart defense attorney would ever agree to that and I don’t think you should either.  It’s important for the Arbitrator to see you in person in my opinion. And it’s also important for your attorney to get to know the Arbitrators which can happen much easier in person than over a screen.

In the big picture, I think some of these trends will continue and others will not. Being able to check in at court online is helpful if nothing is really going on in the case.  I believe that when Covid is more or less behind us, informal in person hearings will likely return. But in the long run it will be a challenge for the next generation of attorneys unless they come up with a more practical way to get to know each other.  Online efficiency is great, but the reality is that old school ways also work in ways that benefit everyone.

 

Proving De Quervain’s, Trigger Thumb Is Work Related

By Mike Helfand on Posted in Injuries

De Quervain’s tenosynovitis is a common and painful condition that affects the tendons (tissue that connects muscles to bones) of the wrist. Symptoms of de Quervain’s tenosynovitis include:

  • Pain near the base of your thumb
  • Swelling near the base of your thumb
  • Difficulty moving your thumb and wrist when you’re doing something that involves grasping or pinching
  • A “sticking” or “stop-and-go” sensation in your thumb when moving it

It’s often associated with trigger thumb which s a condition that causes your fingers or thumb get stuck in a bent position. Those with trigger finger or trigger thumb may have stiffness when bending the finger(s) or hear snapping and popping when moving the finger(s).

Both of these injuries are associated with over use of the wrist and hands and very often they are related to your job duties. If that happens in Illinois, you may be able to get workers’ compensation benefits. But just having a repetitive job isn’t enough to prove a case.

The best evidence in Illinois to win benefits is to show that you had no prior symptoms with your hand or thumb or if you did, you haven’t treated for those problems for some time.  You then want to be able to prove that your pain developed with an increased use of your hands/wrists on your job.  You do this with your testimony which if you have a good lawyer will be detailed.

The final and most important step is having a credible doctor, preferably an orthopedic one, who will state that your work activities at a minimum contributed to your problems. It’s very important that your doctor have a detailed description of what you are doing. In other words, you can’t just say to your doctor, “I’m a welder.”  They need to know how often you are lifting, what the weight is, how continuously weld, the position your hands and wrists are in, etc.

In a recent case, a data management specialist at Argonne research lab won benefits for De Quervain’s and trigger thumb. She credibly testified about how her job duties changed to more days on the clock with higher work flow and more use of her keyboard.  She discussed how she used her right hand and thumb, how many keystrokes there were and what she noticed physically when she did this.  Her details were so specific that they included one day where she had to do more than double the volume or normal work.

Her testimony, along with no contradicting testimony, no prior treatment and a credible supporting doctor was enough to win the day.  This was all necessary because the insurance company found a doctor to state that her problems could be from diabetes or obesity.

The bottom line is that even when it’s obvious to you that your problems were caused by your job and that you should get work comp benefits, you still have to be diligent and thorough to insure you will win your case.

If you have questions about any of this or would like to talk to an experienced Illinois work comp attorney for free, you can call us any time at 312-346-5320.

What Do I Do If My Illinois Work Comp Case Is Denied?

By Mike Helfand on Posted in Benefits

One thing I say repeatedly to people with Illinois workers’ compensation claims is that the insurance company is always looking for a reason to deny your case. This is true even when your case is accepted and they are paying benefits. They might even be nice to you, but behind the scenes they are trying to figure out a way to cut you off. Some of their tactics include:

– Taking recorded statements of you. The hope is to trip you up in to saying something that will provide a defense.

– Assigning a nurse case manager to your case. They often will illegally talk to your doctor to try and influence your medical treatment or job restrictions.

– Surveillance. The longer you are out, the more likely it is that they’ll pay a company to follow you and video tape you. If you have a lifting restriction, but are feeling good and try to do something you shouldn’t, they’ll say you are faking and end your benefits on the spot.

– Independent medical examinations.  There are plenty of hired gun doctors who will say whatever the insurance company wants them to say as cover for your benefits getting terminated.  It’s no coincidence that we see the same doctors used over and over on these cases. Some of them make high six figures on these examinations and depositions.

Other times they deny with no reason.  You’ll just get a letter saying that your after an investigation they’ve determined that your case is not compensable.  Of course there is no real investigation in most of those instances, but that doesn’t stop insurance companies.

So the question is what do you do if your case is denied?

1. Don’t panic. This happens all of the time because while this is your life, it’s business to the insurance company.

2. Consult with an experienced attorney. It’s free and it allows you to educate yourself as to whether or not you do have a good case and if so what an attorney can do for you. In most cases this does mean hiring a lawyer.  If you do there are motions that we can file to work toward getting your benefits reinstated.

3. Explore other options for medical care.  If you need a surgery or physical therapy, your body can’t wait on the work comp system. If you have a denial letter from work comp, you should be able to get medical care through your group health insurance provider.  Don’t do this without talking to your attorney first, but also don’t feel like you have to wait a while to get the treatment you need. A good lawyer will protect you in this situation.

4. Talk to your doctor. This should be done in conjunction with your lawyer, but to win benefits, you need a statement from your doctor that about what treatment you need and that your condition is work related.

5. Don’t trust the insurance company. This should probably be first on the list.  I can’t even count the number of times someone has reached out to me after the insurance company denied benefits where they did so in blatant violation of the law.  They aren’t looking out for you.

It’s really not much more than that.  These cases aren’t rocket science. They just require someone who knows what they are doing. And they require you to look out for you and not let the insurance company push you around.

If you’d like to speak with an experienced work comp attorney for free, you can call us any time at 888-705-1766.

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