Hurt at Work? You Need a Lawyer!

Have you recently become injured or disabled due to a workplace accident? Are you unable to continue working and earning an income?  Are you now facing piles of medical bills? 

You may be entitled to compensation for your pain and suffering through workers comp. 

You deserve to work in a safe environment; better yet, you should be free to work without any fears that you will become injured or disabled. Unfortunately, many Americans face this issue and have to fight to be recognized and receive the proper compensation they deserve.  

When your insurance is not able to pay the entire sum of your potential medical bills due to an accident at work, you are forced to foot the bill. Please read further to learn about what you can do when you are injured at work and what may be eligible for compensation with the help of a workers’ comp lawyer.

Types of Accidents at Work

According to the National Safety Council, every seven seconds a worker gets hurt on the job in the United States. With approximately 540 workplace injuries every hour and almost three million non-fatal workplace accidents happen every single year. 

For many Americans over the age of 55, slipping and falling is the primary cause of work-place related injuries. Frighteningly enough, as you age there is an increased risk of permanent injury or disfigurements. 

Some of the other most common causes of workplace accidents are included in the list below:

• Material Handling
• Machinery-Related Injuries
• Slips and Tripping Injuries
• Overexertion
• Repetitive Activity Injuries
• Motor Vehicle Accidents
• Electrocution
• Entanglement
• Struck Against or Struck By Objects

Workers’ Compensation Examples

Let’s take you through a couple of common scenarios where a person is eligible for workers’ compensation.

1.Falling At Work 

Say you are an essential worker. You work hard every day to ensure that your business can continue to run smoothly. Imagine that it’s now the lunch rush. You hurry to the backroom to restock dwindling supplies like the model employee you are. You use the employer-provided step-stool to grab a box from the shelf above you. Before you realize what has happened, the poorly maintained step-stool slips, the heavy boxes tumble down – and you fall!  

You slipped and fell at work, and now you feel terrible pain. You realize that you have landed harshly and may have broken your hand and possibly suffer a wrist fracture. Now you are unable to finish your shift or work for some time.  

You may be eligible for workers’ compensation but if you are too preoccupied with nursing your injury, you may not correctly file for this benefit and miss out on payment.

2. Driving Accident At Work 

Now consider another work-related injury. You are driving a delivery vehicle.

You are a respectful and level-headed driver. You look forward to your shifts and you enjoy driving as a reliable delivery driver for your company. You take pride in your work and maintain your vehicle. 

You are driving back the familiar route to your home location after successful delivery and before you know it – you are blindsided by another car and they hit your side, hard. You may be suffering from a broken leg or worse, all because of a reckless driver that put your life in danger.

All you can think about is how you are going to pay for the inevitable medical bills. You may not even realize that this accident is considered to be a work-related incident and is eligible for workers’ compensation. 

As a driver, you are susceptible to many external factors that a worker performing their duties from inside a facility will not have to worry about. 

Hazardous road conditions, dangerous weather forecasts, and unsuitable drivers handling their vehicles under the influence are real and serious issues.

If any of these above situations resonate with you, keep reading to learn how you may be eligible for compensation and seek a settlement.

What to Do After You Fall and Are Injured

You are injured and unable to work, or even care for your most basic needs independently. Through no fault of your own, your life has changed and you may be facing a pile of medical bills and other notices.

You may not be able to live the life you once did before the workplace accident occurred. You may feel helpless. You may feel angry at the outcome of the situation. You may even feel that you have been cheated out of the quality of life that you deserve.

You are absolutely right! But what do you do? 

1. Seek Medical Attention

Before you consider doing anything else, you must seek medical attention immediately. Do not wait to learn about the compensation policy before you receive treatment. The longer you wait to attend to an injury, the more likely the effects can influence you long-term. 

Your health is the utmost priority. Whatever expenses are incurred after the incident should not be your concern. Take care of yourself, find treatment for your workplace injury, and focus on healing properly.

1. Do Not Sign Anything

Do not sign anything that would hold you liable for the injury. You are not responsible for a hazardous workplace. Once you sign a document and consent to any fault, your chance of receiving a settlement will likely not be as successful as if you had signed nothing at all. 

You do not need to accept fault to receive treatment. 

1. Take Down Details

Keep all of your documents organized. Maintain a record of every doctor you see. Find out the name of every associate you speak with. Every bit of information you receive can help your case.

Take detailed notes. The more information you can keep track of and provide, the more furnished your case will be. Keep track of dates and appointment times. You may even receive bills or invoices for your medical expenses. It is important that you keep them along with everything else. 

Document what you have had to pay out of pocket for and keep those receipts as well. Out of pocket expenses include items you needed to purchase to maintain a decent quality of life after the workplace incident occurred. This can include braces, crutches, medications, and therapy-grade supplies.

1. Get The Help Of A Professional Personal Injury Lawyer

You will need a specialized workers’ compensation lawyer from an injury law firm to review your case and help you understand what you are responsible for and what you rightfully deserve.

You may be wondering in your time of need “how can I access a personal injury attorney near me?” With the help of 1-800-HURT-NOW, you can almost instantly become connected with practicing car injury attorneys in your area to discuss your options. There are personal injury law firms in all fifty states that you can discover through the hotline.

What Compensation You May Be Entitled To 

Settlements for workers’ compensation cases are determined by many factors. Your attorney will negotiate the amount that your workplace is willing to pay out with you. 

The settlement amount is determined by judging how likely a jury would convict your workplace for negligence and unsafe working conditions, which is why keeping detailed records is so important.

The more information you can provide which would show the guilt of the organization responsible for your injury, the more likely a jury would convict. Thus this can result in a larger settlement amount.

The average workplace injury case settlement amount is a relatively large sum. The amounts vary due to reasons relating to the location, cause, injury, income, and medical fees associated with the incident. 

• About $192  billion are paid annually relating to workplace injury incidents. The figures for a typical workplace injury settlement are estimated to be within the range of $20,000 to $50,000. 
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• The cost associated with a workplace-related death is around the ballpark of $700,000 to $1 million.
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• Occupational injuries due to trips and falls that are disabling, whether temporary or permanent, are settled between $250,000 to $300,000. 

Missed Wages

If you sustained your injury on the job at a workplace and were forced to miss work, you should be entitled to the full amount of wages. Then you would have earned had you been able to work is calculated by your pay stubs and your average salary. 

Medical Expenses

Medical expenses that may be covered by workers compensation pay-outs include the following:

• Hospital visits
• Procedures such as X-rays and MRIs
• Devices such as wheelchairs or walkers
• Pain medication, both prescribed and over the counter
• Physical therapy and pain management services
• Mental health counseling due to injury-related trauma
• Travel expenses incurred going to and from appointments
• Home-aid visits to perform daily life tasks.

Pain and Suffering

The cost of pain and suffering is based on the multiplier your insurance adjuster and the lawyer agree is best to describe your situation. This means the number of your medical bills will be multiplied by the agreed-upon amount, which will equal the estimated cost of your pain and suffering.

Pain and suffering can typically be estimated to $15,000, even for small injuries. This amount is valued based on the severity of the injury, however, and can be thousands of dollars more depending on the type of injury.

1-800-HURT-NOW Can Help!

Injuries happen throughout a person’s lifetime. However, if you have been victimized by a negligent workplace or party that did not take proper injury prevention precautions, you deserve justice. 

You do not have to go through this experience alone. A competent workplace injury legal representative will put your needs first and get you suitable compensation. 

Recovering from a traumatic injury is difficult enough. Now imagine all of the other factors of life that come into play when you are hurt and taken out of commission. Missing work is stressful and can lead to serious mental health issues, among many other material issues. There are so many aspects of your life that you can miss out on, all because of an injury.

Don’t take workplace accidents lightly. Even if you were not on the actual worksite when the incident occurred if you were on the clock when the injury happened you are eligible for compensation. Seek legal counsel to discover your options. 

Don’t wait to find out if you can receive compensation before it is too late to receive anything at all.

You may not be able to prevent a slip and fall injury, but you can stop yourself from being taken advantage of. You can benefit greatly from seeking legal counsel and finding out what all of your options are.

Get The Help From A Professional Workplace Injury Attorney

There are so many options out there that it can seem intimidating at first. Finding a law firm that has your best interests at heart is time-consuming. However, the time you take to find a lawyer is worth it considering the information above.

You have options. 1-800-HURT-NOW can help you access a workplace injury attorney to provide you with the care and attention that you need to win a settlement case.  

Call: 1-800 487 8669