Why Would You Need A Workers Compensation Attorney?

Workers compensation pays workers for lost wages and medical care if they are injured on the job. Their families are compensated if their injuries result in death. Accidents or injuries that are not work related are not eligible for this compensation. Employers agree to pay for lost wages and medical bills and in return cannot be sued for damages or be held negligent for the accident or injury.

However, there are cases in which an employer may refuse to pay all or part of a workers compensation claim. These include when the employer has doubt about a claim for reasons such as the following:

• The employer believes that the employee is faking an injury in order to get paid while not working. This may occur when an accident is not witnessed by another person, or when an injury causes pain that cannot be proven by diagnostic testing, such as back pain. Pain that is chronic or recurring is especially suspect without readily apparent damage.
• The employee may have incurred an injury outside of the workplace, and is pretending that it happened at work. 
• The claimant may be malingering, or claiming to still be injured and unable to return to work after a reasonable period of recuperation for the claimed injury.

There are many cases of workers compensation fraud each year, and this may cause some employers to question the veracity of some claims. Some companies will hire private investigators in an attempt to observe claimants performing activities that could not be done if they were truly injured. However, companies should consider the individual employee characteristics rather than statistics.

An employee's work record should be considered when an employer has misgivings about a workers compensation claim. Most employers are ethical, and will not attempt to cheat a good employee out of their benefits. However, there are always some bad apples, who put profits above every other consideration.

For those cases, a workers compensation attorney can help an injured employee get fair compensation in the form of lost wages and medical expenses. A workers compensation attorney will expect their client to be completely truthful about all aspects of the claim. In return, they will give an honest assessment of whether the case can be won, based on their previous experiences in similar cases. If retained, they will negotiate with the company's workers compensation insurance carrier until a settlement can be reached that is satisfactory to all parties involved.