Of the rights that an American worker has, few are more poorly understood than Worker’s Compensation. The right to be compensated by your employer, including lost wages and medical expenses incurred, for an on-the-job injury is one that is surprisingly vilified by many people who benefit from this right.
A workers compensation insurance application is one of the most important documents you might be able to file while on the job in one of the 35 states that require worker’s compensation. Worker’s comp attorneys can fight for you to make sure that you get what you deserve after you finish your workers compensation quote questionnaire.
In many cases, the employer may reject, or “contest” a workers comp claim. In those cases, the workers comp attorneys will help you provide the documents that contested workers’ compensation claims require. If you have a no-fault system workers compensation in your state, like Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, no hearing may be required for the worker to prove compensation is owed. This will streamline your worker’s comp approval considerably. Even in this case, though, knowing your rights and having a lawyer is important to make sure your claim sticks.
Knowing if you are entitled to a workers compensation claim is crucial to your well being. If you have sustained injuries on the job, more likely than not you are entitled to compensation from your business or company. In fact, over 70% of states require businesses to fulfill a workers compensation claim in the event of injury.
Work place injuries and the subsequent filing of a workers compensation claim are not uncommon things. The vast majority (over 80%) of workers compensation claims happen because of workers falling on slick floors. Over 20% of these types of accidents resulted in the loss of 31 or more days of work for the employee. Because of this temporary disability, without compensation a worker would very often struggle financially, as 75% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck (and over 25% have no money in savings). Depending on the severity of the injury, a workers compensation claim could provide over $100,000.
It’s important to know when you are entitled money, because that money can often be what saves you in cases of emergency, as less than 25% of Americans have money put away to help deal with a catastrophic event or accident.
Motor vehicle accidents are another realm of accident where you might find yourself entitled to money. Though some car accidents are truly just accidents, many are caused by reckless and dangerous driving. The advent of cell phones and other electronic devices has increased this type of behavior and at any given moment over 600,000 drivers are using their phone in some way as they drive. This is called distracted driving, and it caused over 3,000 deaths in 2013 alone. Drunk driving is another hazard of the road, as every day people drive drunk over 300,000 times. Only a fraction of those drivers are actually arrested.
When it comes to what you are entitled to by the law in the event of an accident, be it at work or while driving or other (for example, birth injuries), a legal representative and legal team can help you to figure out your next steps. An injury attorney as well as an auto accident attorney can advocate for you and make sure that you receive what you are entitled to.
