Harrisburg, PA Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

Injuries at work might leave you with serious disabilities.  Even if you are only out of work for a month or two, the lost income and the building medical bills should be covered by your employer if your injuries happened within the course of your job.

Under Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation system, this is how the law actually works: your employer is the one responsible for paying for your medical care and covering your lost wages.  However, getting them to cover the damages in full is often difficult, and our attorneys can fight for you to get benefits flowing, fight off terminations, and appeal any negative decisions.

For a free review of your case, call the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists at Cardamone Law today at (267) 651-7945.

Do You Sue or File a Claim After a Work Injury in Harrisburg?

Generally, the law in Pennsylvania expects you to file a claim with your employer and their Workers’ Comp carrier after an injury on the job.  While there are some exceptions allowing you to go straight to a lawsuit, our Workers’ Compensation lawyers encourage focusing on the Workers’ Comp claim.  Claims are often the best way to get the benefits you need.

Are Lawsuits Allowed?

Generally, injured workers are not allowed to sue their employer.  There are some exceptions, such as when your employer does not have the required insurance, but this is unlikely.  Moreover, lawsuits can only be filed against a party that was actually at fault.  In many situations, an injury is going to be purely accidental or even the injured worker’s own fault.  As such, a lawsuit might not be available, but a claim should always be available for a work-related accident.

There may also be some situations where you can file lawsuits to supplement your Workers’ Comp claim, but these can also be dangerous because the insurance carrier may be able to recoup their payments from the damages you win in the lawsuit.  Added to this, the cut that a different lawyer takes for that lawsuit might leave you with lower take-home damages than you would have received with just a Workers’ Comp claim.

How Workers’ Compensation Works

Workers’ Comp is instead the primary system for getting injured workers the benefits they need.  This is considered a no-fault system, meaning that it does not take into account who caused the accident or whether they caused it through a pure accident or through negligence.  Instead, this system requires your employer (through their insurance carrier) to cover your injuries with certain benefits.

Under this system, you notify your employer of the injury, and they file the claim with their insurance carrier.  They can choose to deny the claim if they refuse to believe the injury was actually related to your work, and they can also refuse lost-wage benefits if they think you are not injured enough to be able to work.  Our lawyers can fight these denials in court and urge the insurance carrier to accept the claim and pay it in full.  We can also negotiate potential settlements, where the benefits will be paid out in a lump sum.

We do not need to collect evidence to prove the accident to a jury, and the decisions are primarily made within the first 90 days, making this system much faster than a lawsuit.

What Does Workers’ Comp Cover in Harrisburg?

If you are injured in an accident, you will typically rack up expensive medical bills, all while you are unable to work because of the injury.  If you were hurt in the course of your work, then your injury should get coverage from Workers’ Comp.

Covered Injuries and Illnesses

Any accident that injures you in the course of your job tasks should qualify you for Workers’ Comp.  This includes things like accidents while lifting boxes at work, car accidents while driving for work, machinery accidents on the line, electrocution injuries, and many other types of injuries.  As long as the accident occurred within the scope of your work duties, the injuries should be covered.

There are some clear exceptions where your injury will not be covered, however.  If you caused the accident intentionally or you were injured because of your own intoxication, drug use, or illegal activities, Workers’ Comp will not pay you.  Additionally, injuries from accidents that happen outside of work, on your lunch break, or during your commute to and from work usually do not qualify as “work-related,” though injuries during other work-related travel might.

Many illnesses or “occupational diseases” are also covered, but the proof requirement might be raised.  While accidents can be traced to an event that happened at work, illnesses are often linked to many possible causes.  You always need to show your work-related illness was caused by your working conditions, but there might be additional requirements to show that that particular type of cancer, poisoning, or other illness occurs more commonly in your industry than in the population at large.

Covered Benefits

There are two main areas of benefits that Workers’ Comp pays: medical bills and lost-wage damages.  All medical bills to treat a work injury should be covered in full, but there may be restrictions on what doctors you can use in the first 90 days of treatment.  Lost wages are covered typically at 66 2/3% of your average wage, up to a limit – but potentially as high as 90% if your wage is low.

In cases of permanent loss of limb or loss of function in a limb or body part, so-called “scheduled” damages are paid at a set number of weeks’ worth of benefits instead of as an ongoing matter.

The family of a worker killed in a work-related accident can also seek death benefits.

Call Our Workers’ Comp Attorneys in Harrisburg Today

For a free case assessment, call the Workers’ Comp lawyers at Cardamone Law today at (267) 651-7945.