General workers’ compensation law requires that every company that has one or more employees of any kind, including part-time and/or temporary employees, must provide workers’ compensation coverage. Most employers obtain workers’ compensation insurance due to the potential risk of exposure to a workers’ compensation claim. However, some companies choose to insure themselves by becoming a self-insured employer paying statutorily-required benefits directly to injured employees. To be a self-insured employer, you must be authorized and receive approval by the state after filing a proper self-insured application. Companies cannot act as a self-insurance group without obtaining a certificate of approval from the insurance commissioner. For self-insurers, defending workers’ compensation claims can be more expensive and complex than for employers who have workers’ compensation insurance. In these situations, it is even more critical to seek experienced legal representation if an employee files a claim.

Our network of independent attorneys have extensive experience handling all types of workers’ compensation cases, including complex cases. If a claim has been filed against you or your company, or if you are being investigated by either the State or Federal Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, you need an attorney to defend and protect you. Only after this thorough analysis of the facts and circumstances of your particular situation, can an attorney determine the best course of action to defend the claim, whether it is through settlement, appeal, or litigation. Our attorneys can also assist in finding other potential wrongdoing by third parties, such as fraud and third-party involvement. An attorney can conduct meticulous research using the latest in legal computer technology to effectively and efficiently prepare the strongest possible defense.

Defending workers’ compensation claims can be difficult and can cause extensive financial strain, especially for newer companies or companies that are self-insured. An experienced attorney who focuses their practice in workers compensation court will utilize their thorough knowledge, skill and understanding of the workers’ compensation law to ensure that your business is protected and that any risk of financial loss is minimized.

Our network of attorneys handle complex workers’ compensation claims, including psychiatric stress claims, toxic exposure claims, and difficult cases involving multiple parties and serious injuries. Some of our attorneys represent a variety of clients, particularly new self-insured employers, third party administrators, and workers’ compensation insurance carriers.

Workers compensation:

Workers compensation is a form of money benefit that provides compensatory medical care for employees who are injured in the course of employment; or in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee’s right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence. While plans differ between jurisdictions and states, provisions can be made for weekly payments in place of wages (functioning in this case as a form of disability insurance), compensation for economic loss (past and future), reimbursement or payment of medical and like expenses (functioning in this case as a form of health insurance), and benefits payable to the dependents of workers killed during employment (functioning in this case as a form of life insurance). General damages for suffering; punitive damages for employer negligence, etc. are not available in worker compensation plans.

Workers compensation laws:

The laws governing workers compensation are termed as workers compensation laws and are usually a feature of highly developed industrial societies, implemented after long and hard-fought struggles by trade unions. Supporters of such laws believe that such laws resulted in improvement of working conditions and provide an economic safety net for employees. Conversely, critiques of these laws often criticize for removing or restricting workers’ common-law rights (such as suit in tort for negligence) in order to reduce governments’ or insurance companies’ financial liability.

Workers’ compensation laws were enacted to reduce the need for litigation and to mitigate the requirement that injured workers prove their injuries due to employer’s fault. In 1902 Maryland passed first law of this kind for workers compensation. Thereafter, in 1906 first federal law covering federal employees was passed. By 1949, all states had enacted some kind of workers’ compensation law. Such laws were originally known as "workman’s compensation," but today, most jurisdictions have adopted the term "workers’ compensation" as a gender-neutral alternative.

In the United States, most employees who are injured on the job have an absolute right to medical care for any injury, and in many cases, monetary payments to compensate for resulting temporary or permanent disabilities. Most employers are required to subscribe to insurance for workers’ compensation, and an employer who does not may have financial penalties imposed. In many states, there are public uninsured employer funds to pay benefits to workers employed by companies who illegally fail to purchase insurance. Insurance policies are available to employers through commercial insurance companies: if the employer is deemed an excessive risk to insure at market rates, it can obtain coverage through an assigned-risk program.

Administration of workers’ compensation:

Workers’ compensation is administered on state by state basis with a state governing board overseeing varying public/ private combinations of workers compensation program. The federal government has its own workers’ compensation program, subject to its own requirements and statutory parameters for federal employees. For this the federal government pays through regular appropriations. In the vast majority of states, workers’ compensation is solely provided by private insurance companies. In some states a state fund is operated which insures state employees and serves as a model to private insurers. To keep the state funds from crowding out private insurers, they are generally required to act as assigned-risk programs or insurers of last resort, and they can only write workers’ compensation policies. In contrast, private insurers can turn away the worst risks and can write comprehensive insurance packages covering general liability, natural disasters, and so on.

In most states it is illegal for an employer to terminate or refuse to hire an employee for having reported a workplace injury or filed a workers’ compensation claim. However, it is often not easy to prove discrimination on the basis of the employee’s claims history. To abate discrimination of this type, some states have created a "subsequent injury trust fund" which will reimburse insurers for benefits paid to workers who suffer aggravation or recurrence of a compensable injury.

Jurisdiction of workers’ compensation claims:

In the majority of states, original jurisdiction over workers’ compensation claims and disputes has been vested by statute to special administrative agencies. In such agencies, disputes are usually handled informally by administrative law judges. Appeals may be taken to an appeals board and from there into the state court system. However, such appeals are difficult and are regarded skeptically by most state appellate courts, because the object of workers’ compensation law was to reduce litigation. A few states still allow the employee to initiate a lawsuit in a trial court against the employer.

Workers’ compensation

prior to statutory law and that after statutory law:

Prior to enactments of the statutory law relating to worker’s compensation, employees who were injured on the job had to pursue their employer through civil or tort law. In this process there was high burden on employees to prove employer-employee relations and employer’s malice or negligence. Compensation awarded by courts was also less, although there were no restrictions on the quantum of award of compensation.

Statutory workers’ compensation law provides advantages to both employees and employers. A schedule is drawn out to state the amount and forms of compensation to which an employee is entitled, if he/she has sustained the stipulated kinds of injuries. Employers can buy insurance against such occurrences. Statutes often award a set amount based on the types of injury.

But sometimes statutes lag behind when new forms of workplace injury are discovered, for instance: stress, repetitive strain injury, silicosis, etc. for which it may offer no suitable compensation, forcing the employer and employee back to the courts, depriving the whole purpose of statute. Also, caps on the value of disabilities may not reflect the total cost of providing for a disabled worker. For example – the statute law may provide for the value of total spinal incapacity at far below the amount required to keep a worker in reasonable living conditions for the remainder of his life.

A related issue is that the same physical loss can have a markedly different impact on the earning capacity of individuals in different professions. For instance, the loss of a finger could have a moderate impact on a banker’s ability to do his or her job, but the same injury would totally ruin a pianist.

Attorneys specializing in workers compensation laws:

Attorneys specializing in workers compensation laws must have insight and knowledge in areas such as personal injury, compensation, etc. Workers compensation attorneys can help clients in filing compensation claim, calculating the damages, representing before administrative law judge or court as the case may be and if possible getting an out of court settlement.

Individuals looking for an attorney specializing in workers compensation laws need to find someone who is well versed in workers’ insurance, law of torts and state law on workers’ compensation.

Some employers vigorously contest employee claims for workers’ compensation payments. In any contested case, or in any case involving serious injury, a workers’ compensation attorney with specific experience in handling workers’ compensation claims should be consulted. Laws in many states limit a claimant’s legal expenses to a certain fraction of an award; such "contingency fees" are payable only if the recovery is successful.

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