Work accidents can be sudden, like a fall from a height, or build up over decades through repetitive stress. Either way, you’re eligible for workers’ compensation. The toll a job can take on a body can leave you with long-term injuries. Our work accident lawyers can help you get compensation to pay for care.
Workers’ compensation pays injured workers regardless of fault, but the system isn’t perfect. Our Melbourne workers’ compensation lawyers fight to ensure you get the money you should get after a workplace accident, not what the insurers think you deserve.
About Workers’ Compensation in Florida
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system that lets injured workers cover the costs of treating an injury and missing work. Almost all workers are entitled to benefits, but there are certain conditions you must meet before you can claim it:
- You must be legally employed
- The injury must have happened during work
- The cause of your injury must have been while performing a work-related activity.
The no-fault system lets workers get money quickly to return to work as soon as possible. You don’t have to fight to prove your employer harmed you. However, you cannot sue your employer except in rare situations, like if an employer intentionally harmed you.
Personal injury lawyers help victims of workplace accidents navigate the workers’ compensation system. We can help you with your initial claim to make it as strong as possible, but most workers turn to us after their claim is rejected or less than needed to cover your costs.
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What Benefits Can I Get Through Workers’ Compensation?
If you’ve been hurt in a workplace accident, here are the benefits you can get through Florida’s workers’ compensation system:
- Lost wages: If you cannot work because of your injury, you can get a percentage of your current weekly wage to cover you until you recover.
- Medical expenses: Your employer’s insurer should cover all the costs for medical treatment for your injuries. In fact, you shouldn’t even see a bill. Your medical providers will bill your employer’s insurance directly.
- Disability benefits: If you’re disabled temporarily or permanently because of your work-related injury or illness, you can get additional benefits.
- Vocational rehabilitation: If you cannot return to your old job because of your injuries, you can get money to pay for job training, education, and other reemployment services to find a new job.
- Death benefits: If your loved one died due to a work-related illness or injury, you can claim death benefits like funeral expenses and financial help.
The goal of workers’ compensation is to get injured workers back to work as quickly as possible, but it also provides ongoing income for employees who gave up their health in exchange for their employer and cannot work again.
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What Are My Responsibilities As an Employee?
There are three crucial things that you must do to claim workers’ compensation. If you do not do them, you may be denied workers’ compensation, and there will be little room to appeal.
First, notify your employer of your injury. You must do this within 30 days of your accident or when you first noticed symptoms. This starts the workers’ compensation process. A delay means an insurer could claim your injuries didn’t happen at work, and 30 days is the limit for notification by law.
Second, seek medical care immediately and follow your doctor’s instructions. Your examination will confirm your injury is work-related. You may have to go to a specific doctor required by your employer’s insurer to get covered by workers’ compensation.
Third, you need to submit a claim to Florida’s Division of Workers’ Compensation within two years of the injury or illness start date. This is where hiring a Melbourne workers’ compensation attorney can help you.
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Why Might an Insurer Refuse to Pay Workers’ Compensation?
Insurance companies cover the costs of workers’ compensation claims but strive to pay victims as little as they can get away with. They may try certain tactics to get out of paying what you’re owed. For example, they may try to claim:
- You were intoxicated at the time of your accident
- You didn’t follow your workplace’s safety protocols or failed to wear proper PPE
- You were acting irresponsibly at the time of the accident
If an insurer tries to shut down your claim with something like this, you need immediate legal help to preserve your claim. SKG can help you fight against these accusations.
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When Can I Sue My Employer?
Suing your employer directly is hard in Florida because of the workers’ compensation system, but sometimes you can. One way is if your employer does not carry workers’ compensation insurance. Employers need at least four employees before they must carry it by law. If they are supposed to and don’t get it, we can help you with a lawsuit.
Another way is if they deliberately harm you. This could be something like forcing you to perform a dangerous task, following unsafe procedures, or not giving you the proper safety gear. We can check your employer’s OSHA inspection records to see if there’s a history of violations.
Suing your employer means we must prove they were negligent about your safety. You will need a workers’ compensation lawyer in Melbourne with experience in these kinds of cases, like the team at SKG.
Hire a Melbourne Workers’ Compensation Attorney Today
Before you call us, notify your employer that you were injured and see the medical provider your workplace requires. Tell the truth about what happened to the doctor, and do not embellish. Then, contact the Schiller Kessler Group for a free consultation.
We will help you through the workers’ compensation process with compassion and an eye toward justice. Employers cannot exploit the health of workers in the name of profit without giving you care when you need it. We make sure that it happens. Contact us now and get the help you need with your workers’ compensation claim.
Call or text 800-350-3476 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form