Orlando Workers Compensation Lawyer
Workers’ Compensation is an interesting area of the law and it applies to workers who contract a disease at their place of work or are injured on the job. Higher premiums are billed out to employers who have more injuries on their work site. The idea behind the higher premiums is to increase safety on the job.
Unfortunately injuries on the job are very commonplace events and happen on average a150 times a day. This is in addition to more than 15,000 injuries while at work. What this means is there is a death, or an injury roughly every five seconds. Knowing what your legal rights are is crucial to a settlement for a workers’ compensation claim.
In the case of a death on the job, death benefits are complicated to obtain and retaining a competent attorney familiar with this area will assist you with your claim. The laws from state to state vary in this area, although generally speaking the deceased’s dependents may be entitled to receive a percentage of his or her weekly wages for a limited period of time.
If your claim doesn’t relate to a death benefit you will typically get medical treatment, coverage for lost wages and/or long-term disability if it is permanent. The length of time for receiving workers’ compensation is varied depending on your circumstances. E.g. if you got treatment and didn’t lose any time from work, your claim closes within in a year of your last treatment paid for by the compensation carrier. If you collected benefits weekly, then your claim closes two years from the last date you got compensation.
If you’re injured at work, you are often required to fill out a statement for the insurance carrier. If however you have doubts about whether they will accept your claim, hire a knowledgeable workers’ compensation attorney. The Francis Law Firm has extensive experience in dealing with workers’ compensation claims. You will not lose your job for filing a claim as it is against both federal and state laws. If you have been given that impression, speak to your attorney immediately and ask about your legal rights.
Workers’ compensation is supposed to provide you what you need should you be injured at work. However, in reality legal assistance might be needed to make the system run smoothly. For instance you might run into problems such as improper medical treatment, late or no benefit checks, sporadic contact with the insurance company or questions about your ability to return to work at a later date. The Francis Law Firm is able to handle these issues for you.
If you are unable to return to your usual work, the Workers’ Compensation Act says you are entitled to vocational rehabilitation. This is typically offered through your employer’s insurance carrier, but this varies from state to state. This is another reason to have a competent attorney such as Tony C. Francis, an Orlando workers compensation attorney acting on your behalf.
Contact an Orlando Workers Compensation Lawyer
Workers compensation is mandatory in Florida and several other states, and it is an area of law where many things may go wrong if you try to tackle the system on your own. The Francis Law Firm knows how to make the system work for you.