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Started By
Message
Workers Comp
Posted on 10/22/09 at 8:47 am
Posted on 10/22/09 at 8:47 am
Can someone explain to me exactly how it works. I have a family member-who was seriously injured on the job. The Dr. are stating that she is going to need surgery to repair two vertebras, and she will also have mild to severe headaches for the rest of her life. I am trying to determine if it’s in her best interest to seek legal counsel or what will workers comp do.
2
Posted on 10/22/09 at 9:16 am to DieSmilen
WC will cover all medical expenses (surgeries, rehab, pain management treatments, prescription meds, etc)that the injured worker incurs.
WC also covers loss wages up until the treating doctor releases the injured worker to full or light duty (depending if available by employer).
I would definitely consider an atty if you're ready to settle the claim. But if you're not at that point yet, I would recommend not being 'represented', b/c once you are, you lose all direct contact between you and your Claim Mangager (everything will then have to go through your atty). Claim Managers are generally very helpful and will take care of any immediate needs right away, and being represented will surely slow the process down quite abit.
WC also covers loss wages up until the treating doctor releases the injured worker to full or light duty (depending if available by employer).
I would definitely consider an atty if you're ready to settle the claim. But if you're not at that point yet, I would recommend not being 'represented', b/c once you are, you lose all direct contact between you and your Claim Mangager (everything will then have to go through your atty). Claim Managers are generally very helpful and will take care of any immediate needs right away, and being represented will surely slow the process down quite abit.
Posted on 10/22/09 at 9:30 am to Skin
thanks for the info, I enjoyed reading your quote
Posted on 10/22/09 at 10:18 am to DieSmilen
1. Who are going to sue?
2. If you are getting WC you can not sue your employer as long they take care of you (WC).
3. Once you reach maximum medical they will give you a lump sum to go away.
2. If you are getting WC you can not sue your employer as long they take care of you (WC).
3. Once you reach maximum medical they will give you a lump sum to go away.
This post was edited on 10/22/09 at 10:19 am
Posted on 10/22/09 at 10:49 am to Alter X
Well that is why I asked. I didn't know if you could sue the employer, since it was negligence by one of their employees, which caused her injuries and it was not fault of her own. According to the doctor she will not be able to pick up anything over 30 lbs above her head and not be able to pick up more than 50lbs period. Her job required her to life 75lbs or more on a regular basis. It wasn’t like she fell off a ladder it was more like an employee ran into her with an object(that had wheels on it).
Posted on 10/22/09 at 10:51 am to DieSmilen
absolutely get an attorney, with our without workers comp. Ive heard horror stories of work comp taking advantage of people.
Posted on 10/22/09 at 10:56 am to Big Fat
by the way, keep this in the back of your mind. Once you get to the settlement or payout stage, there is a workers comp association pay chart. Its basically a list of injuries and corresponding payouts. They will try to give you less obviously but if you can get your hands on that chart, you'd be a lot more informed.
Posted on 10/22/09 at 11:25 am to DieSmilen
quote:
Well that is why I asked. I didn't know if you could sue the employer
Yes, you can sue the employer for negligence, and I would definitely seek legal advice on your options regarding that.
But thats totally separate from her and her workers comp claim. Workers Comp will be taking care of all her medical expenses regardless of who was at fault. That's their legal obligation.
Posted on 10/25/09 at 9:49 pm to Skin
you can't sue your employer. all w.c. pays is your medical and 2/3's of loss of wages x's 10
years minus the amount of time you collected w.c. I broke my back and many other things a few years ago and had surgery, got an attorney. He promised all kinds of b.s. like money for scarring and pain & suferring and all kinds of $ for that, but still nothing. It has been 5 years and I haven't even talked to my attorney since I went back to work 3-1/2 years ago.Workers comp. is there to protect yhe employer, not the employee.
years minus the amount of time you collected w.c. I broke my back and many other things a few years ago and had surgery, got an attorney. He promised all kinds of b.s. like money for scarring and pain & suferring and all kinds of $ for that, but still nothing. It has been 5 years and I haven't even talked to my attorney since I went back to work 3-1/2 years ago.Workers comp. is there to protect yhe employer, not the employee.
Posted on 10/26/09 at 9:12 am to sabansucks
quote:
you can't sue your employer. all w.c. pays is your medical and 2/3's of loss of wages x's 10
years minus the amount of time you collected w.c. I broke my back and many other things a few years ago and had surgery, got an attorney. He promised all kinds of b.s. like money for scarring and pain & suferring and all kinds of $ for that, but still nothing. It has been 5 years and I haven't even talked to my attorney since I went back to work 3-1/2 years ago.Workers comp. is there to protect yhe employer, not the employee.
I understand you have first person knowledge of the subject. However why do all those atty have in their ad's "have you been hurt at work call xyz today." I also understand if it was something of her own fault, like she fell off a ladder or failed to use a proper technique when lifting or moving something. Yet in the case I am refering to, someone else who was a retard ran into her with a piece of equipment. Once again I thank you for any input as we have never gone through this before.
Posted on 10/26/09 at 3:51 pm to DieSmilen
did they run into her on purpose?
Posted on 10/26/09 at 4:17 pm to Skin
quote:
Yes, you can sue the employer for negligence
well you can sue but the employer will win a summary jugment
intentional acts only
Posted on 10/26/09 at 6:19 pm to DieSmilen
I fell from a roof which I had the proper fall protection, however someone else tied the rope off and it in turn came untied. Atty. said because that employee who tied the rope worked for the same company that I could do nothing.Even if that employee had lack of training or whatever. Atty. said the only way that I could collect anything above w.c. would be if I was a sub-contractor and I could prove negligence on thier part or faulty equipment.Besides I made approx.40k a year and stayed off work 15 months and at the time I went back to work my case was only worth around 80k if I went to work for min. wage. This is where your loss of wages comes in.The scale for what you injured ended a few years back. Atty. said w.c. is set up now whether you break a finger or you neck you recieve the same benefits. Totally not fair, but good luck anyway. This is just my personal experiance and to this day not even an offer for settlement.
Posted on 10/26/09 at 10:37 pm to sabansucks
im taking at safety class at SELU now, my professor went over all this a couple of weeks ago, i will try and ask him for you and see what he says
Posted on 10/27/09 at 8:04 am to dave12345
Thanks.
I am not sure if the employee caused the accident worked for the same exact company. My realtive worked for company A and I think the guy worked for company B, which transports the goods. They both maybe titled same but techincally be two different LLC's. I am not 100% sure they work for different LLC, but I know that some of the cargo they ship is done by other division's of the company(different llc's)
I am not sure if the employee caused the accident worked for the same exact company. My realtive worked for company A and I think the guy worked for company B, which transports the goods. They both maybe titled same but techincally be two different LLC's. I am not 100% sure they work for different LLC, but I know that some of the cargo they ship is done by other division's of the company(different llc's)
Posted on 11/3/09 at 4:19 pm to DieSmilen
Worker's comp should cover all costs associated with the injury. Also, worker's comp will pay pay lost wages. Worker's comp is capped at 2/3 of the employee's wage or 75% or the Louisiana average wage, whichever is less. Salaried positions, management positions, professionals (attys, accts, etc) and a few others are excluded from recieving comp. It mostly extends to those paid hourly wages in low-level positions.
The schedule of lump-sum compensation is for grievous bodily harm like loss of limb or death. There are some other cases, but if you were just injured and out of work for a definite period of time this is rare.
Since the advent of Louisiana Worker's Compensation legislation it is EXTREMELY rare for injured workers to receive a judgement in their favor if they file a tort suit. Negligence or gross negligence are not enough to win, you have to prove intentional tort, which is really hard to do. That I know of, there are only a very small handful of occasions where this has happened.
The schedule of lump-sum compensation is for grievous bodily harm like loss of limb or death. There are some other cases, but if you were just injured and out of work for a definite period of time this is rare.
Since the advent of Louisiana Worker's Compensation legislation it is EXTREMELY rare for injured workers to receive a judgement in their favor if they file a tort suit. Negligence or gross negligence are not enough to win, you have to prove intentional tort, which is really hard to do. That I know of, there are only a very small handful of occasions where this has happened.
Posted on 11/3/09 at 5:22 pm to ShreveportTiger07
quote:
Worker's comp should cover all costs associated with the injury. Also, worker's comp will pay pay lost wages. Worker's comp is capped at 2/3 of the employee's wage or 75% or the Louisiana average wage, whichever is less. Salaried positions, management positions, professionals (attys, accts, etc) and a few others are excluded from recieving comp. It mostly extends to those paid hourly wages in low-level positions.
This is incorrect. Only officers of the company that own at least 10% of the company can elect to exclude themselves from WC.
Your hourly/salary/employee class argument is way off.
Posted on 11/3/09 at 5:43 pm to DieSmilen
If you can bring another company apart from the employer into the mix then there is a chance at some money, and if there was a product that failed then you have a products liability claim, but they won't likely get anything from the employer other than WC.
However there is also a provision called the statutory employer election, Company A can contract to do work for Company B and put a "statutory employer clause" in the contract, then injuries to employees of company A while working for company B will also be wc and you can't sue company b. The plants have started using this more with their contractors to prevent big injury awards. Of course the employees don't know about this until something has happened.
Is it in Louisiana?
If so, the worker's comp focused attorneys are generally of less quality than good trial lawyers (worker's comp only cases don't pay much for lawyers so only crap ones do it) and if theysign with one of them they might end up making a mistake.
what city? I don't do this type of work, but might suggest a few people to avoid. for example LINK
However there is also a provision called the statutory employer election, Company A can contract to do work for Company B and put a "statutory employer clause" in the contract, then injuries to employees of company A while working for company B will also be wc and you can't sue company b. The plants have started using this more with their contractors to prevent big injury awards. Of course the employees don't know about this until something has happened.
Is it in Louisiana?
If so, the worker's comp focused attorneys are generally of less quality than good trial lawyers (worker's comp only cases don't pay much for lawyers so only crap ones do it) and if theysign with one of them they might end up making a mistake.
what city? I don't do this type of work, but might suggest a few people to avoid. for example LINK
This post was edited on 11/3/09 at 5:50 pm
Posted on 11/3/09 at 6:00 pm to Mr Truth
quote:
Your hourly/salary/employee class argument is way off.
Possible, I'm not an attorney and definitely not involved with worker's comp on a regular basis. All of this is based on my Louisiana Commercial Transactions class that I'm taking this semester. I'll look into it.
Posted on 11/3/09 at 6:12 pm to Mr Truth
quote:
Mr Truth
Ok I went back and reviewed my notes to clarify. The salary/management/professional thing has to do with the state's calculation of the average wage Louisiana wage.
The state takes the average weekly wage of Louisiana employees to determine the cap for compensation (75%). The types of job used to calculate this number are limited and don't include professionals who bill by the hour, certain industries (I think some kind of agriculture jobs), and certain salaried positions. The law excludes very few people from actually receiving comp (i.e. domestic or yard workers in certain situations). At least that's what the textbook says. If I'm still wrong I'd be interested to hear where the differences are.
Sorry for the mistaken post, it all kind of runs together after a while. At least I was corrected by a guy named "Mr. Truth!"
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