Delaware County Workers’ Comp Lawyer

Workers throughout Delco face the risk of a work injury. When you are trying to do your job and support yourself and your family, but you get injured in the process, your employer should be the one to step up and pay for your medical care and cover your lost wages. The Workers’ Compensation system is there to enforce that exact process, and our attorneys are here to make that process work for you.

If you were hurt at work and face injuries that make it hard to return to your job, our lawyers can help you make sure your claims are filed correctly, appeal any denials, negotiate with the insurance carriers, and fight to get you your full benefits. We can also seek to protect you as you recover by fighting retaliation and helping you return to work only when you are ready.

For a free case assessment, call Cardamone Law’s Workers’ Compensation attorneys at (267) 651-7945.

How Injured Workers Get Paid in Delaware County, PA

When you get hurt at work, you might want to sue your boss for what happened. However, that is usually not possible, which is where Workers’ Compensation comes in.

Workers who get hurt at work often do so in an accident caused by someone other than their employer, which means their employer cannot be sued. In many cases, the injured worker is actually the one to cause their own injuries completely by accident. This means that a lawsuit would usually not be successful and would get you nowhere – but lawsuits against your employer are also barred unless you qualify as an independent contractor.

As such, Workers’ Compensation was instituted as an alternative to lawsuits. It is essentially a no-fault system where the employer is required to pay for a worker’s medical bills after a work-related injury and to cover a portion of their lost wages while they are kept from returning to work because of that injury.

In these cases, your employer files your claim with their insurance carrier, and these two parties make the decision about whether to pay you. If they refuse, that is where our Workers’ Comp lawyers can really help.

How a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Helps Injured Workers in Delco

Our attorneys can help in your case in a few major ways.

First, we can review your case and help you understand your chances of getting your case accepted. Strong cases that have a clear connection between the accident and your work tasks are simpler to prove. In addition, injuries that are clearly disabling are easier for an insurance company to accept. However, when the facts are not especially clear or the injuries you faced are harder to prove, our lawyers may have an uphill climb to get the insurance company to accept your claim.

Second, we can take your case to court. While you can certainly file appeals and petitions with the court to advance your case without a lawyer, our attorneys have experience and skills that we can put toward your case. In fact, some of us have special certifications that allow us to call ourselves Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists, showing an advanced level of understanding and specialization in Workers’ Comp law. This often gives us the edge in being able to handle your case for you.

Third, we can help you plan and execute on your case. Especially if you are seriously injured, knowing your filing deadlines, dealing with your employer, and following through on doctor’s appointments can be a difficult schedule to keep, let alone a difficult set of tasks to accomplish. Our lawyers can help manage your case and keep it on track, simplifying the process for you.

Fourth, but certainly not the final thing we can do, is negotiate on your behalf. In many cases, insurance carriers are willing to settle cases rather than having to fight the case in court. We can help you understand the proper value of your benefits so that when it comes time to accept or reject a negotiated settlement, you can rest assured that your lump-sum settlement has enough money to provide for you.

What Benefits Does Workers’ Compensation Provide After a Workplace Accident in Delaware County, PA?

Injured workers are usually entitled to two major areas of benefits in a successful Workers’ Comp claim: coverage for their medical bills and coverage for their lost wages. The family of a deceased worker can also claim death benefits if their loved one was killed in a work-related accident.

Medical coverage should provide payment or reimbursement for all medical care received because of your work-related injury. Whether the accident required emergency medical care and a short healing period or a long-term recovery process including physical therapy and rehabilitation, all care should be covered. This should also cover mental health therapy, medication, and other needs.

When you cannot work as a result of the work injury, your other bills and expenses do not stop. As such, your employer must also provide you with ongoing wages until you recover or your benefits cap out. For most injured workers, this comes in the form of a weekly check for 2/3 of your average wage before the accident. However, some workers will have wages that qualify them for up to 90% of their wages instead of 2/3. Additionally, some permanent injuries like amputation or loss of function in a body part have “specific loss” benefits where wages are paid for a set number of weeks instead of being determined on a case-by-case basis.

Suppose your injury is not totally disabling and you are actually able to return to work. In that case, you might still be able to get “partial disability” benefits if you are still working at a reduced capacity. These are usually paid at 2/3 of the difference between what you made before the accident and what you make now.

If your loved one was killed in a work accident, then the death benefits your family receives should include a payment for burial expenses as well as benefits that go up depending on the number of dependents in the family.

Call Our Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in Delaware County, PA Today

Call (267) 651-7945 for your free case analysis with Cardamone Law’s Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists today.