If you’ve suffered a work-related injury or illness, you may be wondering if you should hire a workers’ comp attorney near me. The weight of lost wages makes it tempting to safe money and try to do it yourself, but the answer often depends on the severity of your injury, the complexity of your case, and the actions of your employer or their insurance company.
If you choose to represent yourself, you can certainly keep more of your settlement, which is a positive. But a professional attorney can catch errors or injustices your employer makes, and will help ensure you don’t lose benefits. So when can you go it alone, and when should seek the advice of an experienced workers comp attorney near me?
When It’s Probably Safe to Take your Own Case
In general, you may be able to get by without a workers comp attorney if all of the following statements are true:
- Your employer willingly admits that the injury happened at work.
- Your injury has not caused you to miss a much work.
- You suffer from no pre-existing conditions that could affect the same part of your body as your recent workplace injury (IE an old back injury from a previous event that was there before you slipped and hurt your back on the job).
Even in these straight forward situations, it’s often a good idea to contact a workers’ comp attorney near me for a free consultation about your case. An attorney can walk you through the process, alert you to potential pitfalls, and give you an honest appraisal of your circumstances.
When to Hire a Workers’ Comp Attorney
As soon as any complexity arises in your case, you should hire an attorney. There are several examples of situations that call for intervention from an experienced workers’ comp attorney. Common scenarios are listed below, but these certainly don’t cover every possibility.
- Your employer denies your claim or delays paying your benefits. Employers and workers’ comp insurers routinely reject workers’ comp claims. The assumption is that many workers will fail to appeal, and unfortunately, they’re usually correct. Hiring a workers’ comp attorney typically won’t cost you anything upfront, and will give you the best chance to receive a fair settlement or benefits.
- The offered settlement doesn’t cover all of your lost wages or medical bills. If the offered settlement doesn’t cover what you need it to, don’t count on the workers’ compensation judge to make sure that you’re getting a fair deal. Although workers’ comp settlements do require judicial approval, judges will usually sign off on any agreement as long as it’s not completely unfair. If you really want to ensure you’re getting a fair settlement, a workers’ comp attorney can help.
- Your medical issues hinder you from returning to your current job, limit what you can do at work, or stop you from performing any work at all. If your workplace injury has left you with a permanent disability—whether partial or total—you may be entitled to compensation to make up for your lost wages. These types of cases can be very expensive for insurance companies, and they’ll often stop at nothing to avoid paying your settlement. A knowledgeable workers’ comp attorney can make sure that you are fairly compensated if you suffer a permanent injury or disability.
- Your employer retaliates against you for filing a workers’ comp claim. If you’ve been fired, demoted, experienced reduced hours, reduced pay, or experienced any other form of discrimination because you filed a workers’ comp claim, contact a workers’ comp attorney right away to protect your rights.
Who Can I Trust As a Worker’s Comp Attorney Near Me?
Need help choosing a lawyer? With extensive knowledge and experience, the worker’s comp attorneys at the law firm of Marshall Grinder Debski Pitts protect the rights of workers who have been injured on the job and are interested in applying for workers’ compensation, or have been denied workers’ compensation benefits.
Whether you are planning to apply for workers’ compensation or are looking to appeal a claim that has been denied, our team understands the benefits procedure and can represent you with professionalism. Our attorneys have extensive expertise in this field, and can answer your questions and walk you through every stage of the workers’ comp process.
If you’re located near Akron, Canton, Ravenna or Medina and searching for workers’ comp attorney’s in your area that believe in you and your case, visit https://mgdplaw.com/ today.