Why hire Cox, Koltak & Gibson, LLP as your Workers’ Compensation Attorney in Mount Vernon, Ohio?
Every year, tens of thousands of workers are injured on the job across America. Many of these workers only suffer minor injuries and have supportive employers who help them through the workers’ compensation process. However, this is not always the case and sometimes it is necessary to hire a workers’ compensation attorney. Continue reading to learn when and why it’s necessary to seek legal help.
Claim Denials
If you have suffered a legitimate injury at work and your employer or the Ohio BWC denies your claim, you should hire an attorney. Many employers rightly assume that an injured worker is worried about losing their job. Therefore, certain unscrupulous employers will pressure employees into either not reporting the injury or refute the claim in order to save money. As the amount of injured workers rises, so does the workers’ compensation insurance rates. However, the workers’ Compensation system guarantee an appeals process and protection of injured workers’ rights.
Retaliation
As previously mentioned, certain employers will punish injured workers by reducing hours and pay. Sometimes, they may even discipline, demote or fire the injured employee. Injured employees may be harassed, publicly ridiculed or denied work opportunities. For example, a supervisor instructs an employee to disregard the safety rules in order to increase production. After being injured, the employer terminates the employee because they failed to follow the safety rules. In this scenario, the injured employee should seek legal counsel.
Major Injuries
Any injury that prevents a worker from returning to their job or performing any work at all must hire a workers’ compensation attorney. Partial or permanent disability claims are very complex and require a great deal of HR, legal and medical documentation. Because these cases can be very expensive and time consuming, employers will fight hard to get the claim rejected. Additionally, the state Social Security agency may be entitled to part of the workers’ compensation benefits. Therefore, an experienced workers’ compensation attorney will be able to successfully deal with the employer, hospital, the employer and the state workers’ comp agency.
To recap, workers’ compensation claims regarding minor injuries may be handled by the injured employee. However, any employee who suffers a major injury or gets their claim denied should consult with an attorney. Any employee who experiences rejection or retaliation because of their injury should immediately consult with a workers’ compensation attorney.