When you suffer a work-related injury, your first thoughts will turn to how you will provide for you and your family during your recovery. As the idea of losing paychecks and facing staggering medical bills becomes a reality, you may be thinking the worst is yet to come. However, that’s where workers’ compensation can pick up the slack by providing you with money that will help you until you return to your job. But because these claims can be complex, you need to do all you can from the beginning to maximize your claim. If you have recently filed a workers’ comp claim, here’s how to get maximum compensation.
Seek Immediate Medical Treatment
When you are injured on the job, the last thing you want to do is delay seeking medical treatment for your injuries. If you do, this only gives your employer’s insurance company more of an opportunity to say your injuries did not occur on the job, or perhaps are not as serious as you say. To avoid this problem, always seek immediate medical treatment both at your workplace and from a doctor or hospital.
Understand Your Benefits
When many workers who get injured on the job file their workers’ comp claims, they do so without having a thorough understanding of the benefits to which they are entitled. From temporary and permanent disability benefits to vocational rehabilitation training and mileage to and from medical appointments, knowing what you are entitled to when filing your workers’ comp claim can make a huge difference for you and your family.
Use Common Sense and Good Judgement
In some cases where an employer or its insurance company questions the validity of an employee’s injuries, private investigators may be hired to conduct surveillance on the employee in hopes of proving their claim has no merit. If your employer is skeptical about your workers’ comp claim, always use your common sense and good judgement in these situations. For example, don’t go on social media and discuss your accident or post pictures of yourself at home recovering. Also, if you have follow-up medical appointments, keep each and every one of these. Should an investigator find you are not going to these appointments, this will be very detrimental to getting your claim approved.
Hire a Workers’ Comp Lawyer
If you try to file a workers’ comp claim on your own and assume your employer will be helpful, you are setting yourself up for failure. Instead, from the moment you are considering filing your claim, hire a workers’ comp lawyer to handle your case. By doing so, your employer will realize you are serious about receiving the compensation you may deserve. Once your lawyer starts to handle your case, they can examine the details of your accident, formulate a strategy, and begin negotiating with your employer’s insurer to reach a settlement.
Since the money provided to you by way of workers’ compensation will be critical to helping you and your family survive financially until you return to work, do everything you can to ensure you get everything you deserve from your workers’ comp benefits. By hiring an attorney who can provide sound legal advice while also making sure your employer does not attempt to retaliate against you for filing a claim, the process should be much smoother.
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