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Mistake Or Misconduct, You May Deserve More Compensation

9 July 2015 by Richard Ramirez

The Workers Compensation system is designed to support workers who were injured on the job through no fault of their own. It serves a livable expense based on your wage while covering medical expenses, and is meant to help recover for a return to your job. Unfortunately, some events can lead to disqualification or a significant shortening of your benefits. If you've been denied workers compensation or if your compensation is less than expected, compare your situation against a few traits of the compensation system.

Injury Situations Can Be Interpreted Against Your Favor

Your compensation is largely dependent on how you were injured. Although there are exceptions to every rule and differences between every state, you shouldn't receive compensation for an incident that was your fault in any way.

If you're expecting compensation, it's likely that neither of those things happened. Either a safety regulation was ignored by the company or other workers, or a complete accident occurred that no one could have expected.

The workers compensation insurance system should support you after the injury, but insurance companies are in the business to make money, not lose it. Although the industry isn't quite as cynical as that sounds, you can be sure that your situation will be inspected thoroughly to make sure that you deserve the funds.

Don't Sign Anything Without A Lawyer

The compensation assessor may disagree with the way that certain accidents happened. If safety goggles (or other personal protective equipment) were required during an accident that lead to eye damage, the assessor may question if you were wearing goggles, if they were the right type of goggles and if you could have removed the goggles for any reason.

If you wear glasses, the assessor may want to know if glasses could have made the situation unsafe due to improper fitting. Such inspections can shift the burden to the employer or yourself. You could be blamed for not using the goggles properly, or the employer may be blamed for not supplying the right type of goggles.

If you hear any hints of such questions that seem to point the blame towards you, make sure to speak with a workers compensation lawyer before signing anything. Agreeing to even the possibility of shared fault could explain a denial or a lower payment amount.

Blame being shifted against your employer can be a problem for you as well. If your employer has to pay for what you both believe was a complete accident, wages and business in general can be affected. Look out for yourself first, but make sure that the part responsible (either through being at fault or being responsible for providing insurance) is held accountable.

Contact a workers compensation law firm like Hardee and Hardee LLP and make sure to explain your situation in as much detail as possible.

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