Souderton Workers’ Comp/Work Injury Lawyer
Work injuries that keep you from going back to work can have a huge impact on your life. These injuries could result in expensive medical bills and take a huge toll on your earning capacity. If you hurt yourself at work while trying to carry out your work tasks, then your employer should be the one to pay for your injuries.
The Workers’ Compensation system in Pennsylvania helps make this a reality. Our lawyers can help you make your claims and fight for benefits or a settlement. This should cover replacement wages while you are unable to work as well as the cost of any and all medical care related to your injury.
For help with your injury case, contact our Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists by reaching out to Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945.
Benefits Covered for Injured Workers in Souderton, PA
Work injuries of all kinds can leave you out of work while you recover. In many cases, injuries could have you laid up for weeks or months, making it impossible to earn money and support your family in that time. They could also result in expensive medical bills for treatment. Because of these concerns, Workers’ Comp is designed to cover these specific damages if you are hurt while performing your job.
Medical benefits from Workers’ Compensation should pay for all the care you need. This includes emergency treatment, follow-up appointments, and ongoing care like physical and mental health therapy and rehabilitation. You should also get coverage for things like crutches or wheelchairs and prescriptions.
You might have to follow certain rules that our Workers’ Compensation lawyers can help explain regarding what doctors can treat you. You can always treat with your own doctor if you want, but your treatment will usually not be covered in the first 90 days unless you use a doctor from a list your employer has chosen. If you need a specialist outside this list or your employer’s insurance carrier has no list of doctors, then you can use a doctor of your choice – and after 90 days, you can use a doctor of your choice anyway.
Lost wages are covered at a rate of 2/3 your normal wages for most employees. If you make under a certain threshold, you can actually recover more than 2/3, up to 90% of your average weekly wage. These lost wage benefits are capped at the statewide average weekly wage, which is something the state sets every year based on available data.
There are special considerations if your injury has you only partially disabled, meaning that you are able to return to work at a limited capacity. There are also special considerations for amputations and loss of function of a body part, such as an amputated foot, a lost finger, or lost eyesight.
Covered Injuries in Souderton Workers’ Comp Claims
All sorts of injuries can be covered by Workers’ Comp. The core requirements for an injury to be covered are that it happened in the course of one’s job duties and that it keeps them from working. If your injury allows you to get right back to work, you will not usually have any lost wages to cover, though you may still be able to get compensation for medical expenses related to this injury.
Most work injuries are physical injuries, with acute accidents causing them. This would cover things like a sprained ankle, a broken wrist, a pulled ligament, a brain injury, a crush injury, electrocution, or injuries from a fall from heights. Any concrete accident that happened in the workplace while doing your job is usually coverable.
Injuries can also be covered if there was aggravation of an existing injury or condition. In these cases, lifting a box might hurt your already bad back or digging a hole might cause your tennis elbow to flare up. In these cases, as long as the work tasks contributed to the harm and made the injury what it is, they should still be covered even if the initial condition is not linked to work tasks.
You can also get compensation for work-related diseases and illnesses, though the methods for proving this is work-related might be more complex. In many cases, the Workers’ Comp Act requires sick workers to show their illness – be it cancer or some other illness – is more common in their field of work than in the greater public. You must, in any case, show that exposure to certain chemicals or conditions at work was what actually caused your illness or condition, which is something our attorneys can help you with.
Reporting a Work Injury in Souderton, PA
To get an accident covered under Workers’ Compensation, you have to report it to your employer. Employers cannot file claims for injuries they do not know about, and they will rely on that to deny claims if they get the chance. As such, you should always report your injury promptly and in writing so that you have proof of your report. This can help avoid any issues with reporting deadlines and help keep your employer’s insurance carrier from being able to stall or delay benefits.
How a Lawyer Can Help You Get Workers’ Comp Benefits in Souderton
You may think that because your case goes through your employer and an insurance policy, you can handle it on your own without a lawyer, but this could not be farther from the truth. Even though these cases are often handled through insurance, you should have a lawyer with you every step of the way. Insurance carriers are often more than willing to keep claims from being paid, often with workers none the wiser about why their claim is being held up or denied. Our lawyers can not only negotiate with the insurance carrier to try to get your claims paid promptly, but we can also turn to the courts for relief if the insurance carrier tries to do anything to hurt your benefits or tries to file in court to block benefits.
Call Our Workers’ Comp Lawyers in Souderton for Help Today
If you were hurt at work, call (267) 651-7945 for a free case assessment with Cardamone Law’s Workers’ Compensation attorneys.