Scranton Workers’ Compensation Lawyer

Lawsuits against an employer for a work accident usually are not allowed, leaving victims with one option: Workers’ Compensation.  This is an insurance setup that requires employers – through their insurance carriers – to cover worker injuries.

Workers’ Comp covers virtually all workplace accidents and even off-site injuries that occur during work tasks.  As long as the injury is accidental, it can even compensate you for accidents you caused.  Results can include coverage for all medical care, 2/3 of lost wages, and other potential damages.

Call our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists at Cardamone Law for help with your accident by dialing (267) 651-7945.

Injuries and Conditions Workers’ Compensation Covers

Workers’ Compensation is designed to cover any injuries that happen within the scope of your work.  That includes covering illnesses you acquired from work, such as mesothelioma or other cancers.

Most injuries for Workers’ Compensation claims will be sudden, acute injuries from accidents, such as broken bones, torn ligaments, head injuries, and spinal cord injuries.  Others happen over time, including tendonitis and tendinosis.

Broken Bones

Depending on the location of your broken bone, you might not miss much work.  If you miss under 7 days of work, you usually cannot claim lost wages, and you can work with an injury that does not affect your job.  For example, a broken foot might not stop you from working at a desk.

In any case, broken bones often take 4-6 weeks to heal – more if surgery or implants are needed or the break is a compound fracture in more than two pieces.

Brain Injuries

Concussions and traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result from blows to the head.  Other non-traumatic brain injuries from hypoxia, anoxia, or exposure to chemicals can also cause serious harm.

With many concussions, you might need to take a few weeks away from rough physical work, but some result in longer-term symptoms.  Post-concussive syndrome or serious TBIs can potentially result in long-term disabilities, with some brain injuries causing total disability for the rest of your life.

Back and Neck Injuries

Back injuries are some of the most common work injuries.  Whether from a fall, from lifting something, or from another accident (e.g., a car crash), these injuries can cause long-term aggravation that might require accommodations and months or years away from work.

Neck injuries can often be more serious, potentially requiring months to heal before returning to work – if a return is possible.

Spinal Cord Injuries

One of the reasons back and neck injuries might be very serious is because of spinal cord damage.  Impingement on, compression of, or damage to the spinal cord can cause motor skill issues, inability to walk, or full-fledged paralysis.

Cancer and Other Illnesses

Some jobs have a higher risk of certain health conditions, from mesothelioma to asbestosis to various cancers.  If you acquired a health condition while working in an industry, you might have an extended filing deadline, potentially letting you file years after you stopped working that job.

Even so, do not rely on that ability to delay; act quickly to notify your employer from that time of exposure about the condition.

Mental Health Conditions

Sometimes, events at work can cause mental health disorders directly, but it is more likely that your mental health symptoms are a part of the effects of another injury.  For example, if you were in a life-threatening accident, PTSD could be one of many symptoms you face.

As long as the mental health treatment you need is part of your treatment for this injury, it should be covered as well.  This also includes prescriptions for depression, anxiety, or panic attacks.

Workers’ Compensation vs. Lawsuits for Work Injuries

In general, Pennsylvania law blocks lawsuits against your employer.  If you were not an employee, then you do not face this restriction and you would not be covered under Workers’ Compensation, so you might sue instead.

In a lawsuit, victims can typically get any and all damages – medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering – but they have to prove fault first.  In many accidents, you might have been at fault, your employer (who you cannot sue) was at fault, or a coworker (who cannot afford your damages) could be at fault.  In those cases, you cannot prove that someone who can pay is at fault, so you get damages.  Lawsuits are thus usually only available against third-party defendants.

Instead, Workers’ Compensation is a no-fault system that pays for injuries as long as they were work-related.  Even if you caused your own injury by accident, a coworker injured you, or someone outside your workplace injured you, you can file for Workers’ Comp.

Notably, Workers’ Compensation usually pays 2/3 of lost wages rather than full wages, and it does not pay pain and suffering damages.  However, you do not need to prove fault and can still file in cases where a lawsuit would be impossible.  Plus, our Workers’ Comp lawyers often cost less than personal injury lawyers because our fees are capped at 20% of your winnings, while most injury lawyers charge at least 33%.

Medical Coverage from Workers’ Comp

If your Workers’ Comp claim is successful, it should cover all medical care to treat your injuries.  This care is often overseen by a single provider in the first 90 days, but after that, you can choose your care providers.

The initial medical care in the first 90 days has to come from a doctor your employer chooses.  The law gives them a chance to list six or more providers they will accept, and you have to use that list unless you really need a specialist or other care provider off the list.

Your employer’s listed providers might not all be doctors.  Employers often select Workers’ Comp doctors who focus on treatment for these injuries and might not be MDs/physicians.  There may also be chiropractors and other care providers.

Generally, any care can be covered after the first 90 days as long as it is necessary, was recommended by a licensed professional, and is carried out by a licensed professional.  This means you can get any necessary medication, physical therapy, mental health care, or even holistic/traditional medicine covered, so long as the practitioner is licensed.  If there is a question about whether care is necessary, medical exams can be administered and judges can rule on whether the care is needed.

Medical benefits might be covered even if the injury is not disabling, such as when emergency room care is needed after a small work injury.

Wage-Loss Benefits for Workers’ Comp in Scranton

If you are unable to work for more than 7 days, Workers’ Comp should pay for replacement wages.  The amount paid differs from worker to worker.

Average Weekly Wage

Your pay will be determined based on your average weekly wage (AWW) – what you made, on average – before the injury.  Some workers have odd hours, seasonal work, or part-time jobs, so determining this value is not always an easy calculation.

Statewide AWW

There is also a statewide AWW set by law every year to set maximum and minimum benefits.

Your benefits cannot be more than the statewide AWW, and they cannot usually be less than half the statewide AWW.  There are, however, exceptions for low-wage earners.

Total Disability

Your total disability benefit will usually be 2/3 of your AWW.  If 2/3 of that value is more than the statewide AWW, you cannot get more than that amount.

However, rates can go as high as 90% of your AWW if you earn particularly low wages.  The floor for these benefits is whichever is lower: 90% of your AWW or half the statewide AWW.

Partial Disability

If you can work part-time, with accommodations, or in another role with reduced pay, your benefits are different.  Usually, we start with the difference between what you were paid before the injury and what you are making now and take 2/3 of that.  For example, if you made $1,000 per week before the injury and now you work reduced hours for $700 per week, you will get paid 2/3 of the missing $300 (i.e., $200 per week).

Specific Loss Benefits for Permanent Injuries

If you suffered certain injuries, you can get additional pay for “specific loss” benefits.  This amount is set in terms of 2/3 of your AWW times a certain number of weeks.

These “specific loss” injuries primarily cover amputations, losses, or total loss of function.  For example, lost fingers, hands, legs, or eyes are each listed with a certain number of weeks of benefits.

These benefits are also paid for lost vision, lost sight, or serious facial scars.

Settling a Workers’ Compensation Claim in Scranton

If your claim is granted and paid when you initially file with your employer, your case would be a rarity.  Cases typically end up in hearings before a Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) to decide your case, but many claims are ultimately settled before that.

What’s in a Settlement?

When you settle a Work Comp claim, our Workers’ Comp lawyers need to make sure you understand what you are giving up.  While a successful claim usually pays weekly or bi-weekly checks for lost earnings and covers all medical care as it arises, settlements need to cover the full amounts up front in a lump sum.  The same is true for specific loss benefits.

Pros and Cons of Settling

If you have an open case being paid as you go, your benefits can be converted to partial disability benefits as you improve.  If your injury has a nonlinear recovery path, it might get worse again, then better, then worse again in various combinations.  As long as the case is still open, you can file to have your status changed and benefits adjusted.

When you settle, you lose all rights to additional claims, damages, or hearings for this injury.  Typically, these rights are affirmatively signed away as part of the terms.  You also usually sign away your ability to work for this employer again.

Review by WCJ

Because workers have so much to gain or lose from settlements, WCJs usually need to review settlements and approve them.  They also typically ensure the worker understands their rights, has talked to a lawyer, and is freely making their decision to settle.

Gathering Evidence for Workers’ Comp Claims in Scranton

When your case goes before a WCJ to decide, they have two primary questions to answer: was the accident work-related, and are you disabled?  They need specific medical evidence and other proof of what happened to decide.

Testimony

Your testimony is one part of the case.  You will usually be called to testify at the hearing, explaining what happened to you, how you feel now, what you can and cannot do, and whether the accident happened during work tasks.  However, other evidence needs to back this story up.

Depositions

Other witnesses usually are not brought to court.  Instead, the lawyers pay to take depositions in their offices.  Whichever side requests the deposition pays for it, and we can get reimbursed for these costs when we win your case.

Medical Records and Exams

One major piece is your medical records.  Our lawyers often work to see that your treating physician has included their explanation for the injury in your records to prove to the court it was work-related.  We also need them to analyze the extent of your injuries.

Other outside medical exams might also be needed.  Employers can usually request an independent medical exam (IME), as can the court.  This allows them to choose a doctor to examine you.  They pay for this and choose the doctor, so the results are not always very “independent.”

Our lawyers can hire our own experts and get reimbursed for those costs when you win your case.  This lets us choose a doctor who will be on your side.

Various exams will look at how the injury happened, its relation to your work, your degree of disability, what tasks you can and cannot do, and whether certain medical care is necessary.

Doctors are rarely called into court, and WCJs usually look at the doctors’ reports instead.

Call Our Workers’ Comp Attorneys in Scranton Today

Call Cardamone Law’s Workers’ Comp lawyers at (267) 651-7945 for your free case evaluation.