Workers' Compensation
Click to hear the audio versionYour Work-Related Injury
A workers' compensation case occurs when an employee is involved in an accident occurring during the time the employee is working which arises out of the employment. Under certain circumstances, an injury can occur when traveling to and from work. You should notify your employer, manager, supervisor, or the person in charge if you have an injury and request immediate hospital or medical treatment. If your employer does not have a specific health provider, you are then free to use whomever you wish. And if your injury requires the services of an expert in a particular medical field, we would be pleased to refer you to such a provider.
Workers’ Comp Benefits
If you sustain an injury arising out of and during the course of your employment, you may be entitled to various benefits under the workers' compensation laws of the State of California. The first benefit and one of the immediate concerns to you is that you are entitled to medical and hospital treatment, prescription drugs, medical appliances, physical therapy, etc., all of which may be furnished to you free of charge. You are also entitled to be reimbursed for your travel expenses in the form of payment for mileage yet occurred, going to and from the doctor's office, hospital, etc. The second benefit that you are entitled to is temporary disability payments, which should be the money you are presently earning during the time you are unable to work. Normally, these payments are made every two weeks commencing after the first week that you have been unable to work. If the employer or insurance company delays benefits, we can assist you in obtaining other benefits including SDI, SSI, long-term disability and unemployment. The third benefit is permanent disability based upon a legal medical rating of your physical disability. This usually happens towards the end of that case after your doctor declares you permanent and stationary. The fourth benefit to which you may be entitled is vocational rehabilitation, which is a training program for a different job in the event you are unable to go back to work in your original work. There may also be other benefits to which your family may be entitled, which we will be pleased to discuss with you when we meet. For more information, visit
www.fema.govThird-party Accidents
If your accident was caused by someone not associated with your employer, you may have, in addition to a worker's compensation claim, what is commonly known as a third party claim. That is, you can sue a third party for his or her negligence which resulted in your injury. In effect, therefore, you have two claims. One, a worker's compensation case and two, a third party negligence case. Although you are not entitled to collect twice for the same injury, it is important to explore such situations. Since a lawsuit in the regular court system for negligence usually pays more than a worker's compensation case involving the same injury, our office handles both types of claims.
Unsafe Working Conditions
An injury arising from the environment provided to you by your employer may be due to an unsafe working condition. This can come about through the use of defective or outmodeled equipment or unsafe conditions. In the event the accident was caused by a piece of defective equipment, you may have what is known as a product liability case, which may involve the manufacturer, seller, distributor or maintenance company. Such a case would be in addition to your regular workers' compensation case and normally would result in a larger award. Our office carefully reviews the facts of each workers' compensation case to determine whether such third-party claims may be involved. Our associates are prepared to take your case to court to be tried by a jury if necessary.
Wrongful Discharge
There are laws to protect you if you have been wrongfully terminated. The length of your employment with the company, whether your employer had good cause to fire you, and whether your employer followed the necessary procedures which are set down by the California Labor Code or other laws governing employee terminations, must be analyzed to determine your rights. Additionally, both the state of California and the federal government have enacted laws against discrimination on the basis of race, religion, nationality, sex, age, etc. In such an event as a conditioned precedent to a lawsuit for a wrongful discharge, you may have to initially file your claim with the Equal Opportunity Employment Department of FEHA. Unfortunately, the law in the area of wrongful termination is rather complicated and we would therefore suggest that you consult our office or an attorney experienced in such matters to represent you in such a proceeding. If you are terminated because you informed on the company or filed a complaint against a specific person involved in an unlawful act, you may also be entitled to protection. Most employment in the state of California, as elsewhere, is on an at-will basis. This simply means you can quit your job at any time or for that matter your employer can fire you at any given time. If you have a written employment contract, the right of your employer to fire you may be quite restricted under the terms of the contract or limited to good cause. Similarly, if you belong to a union, you may have protection from unlawful or arbitrary firing through the union grievance procedure. It is important to utilize the grievance procedure whenever possible to protect your rights.
Harbor & Longshoreman’s Act
If you have been injured while working at a shipyard or abroad a vessel in navigable waters, you may be entitled to various benefits under the Federal Workers' Compensation Act. Most federal cases can also be filed in state court and there are advantages to filing cases in both federal and state courts. Our office can help you get the maximum amount of benefits in both. If we can be of any assistance in helping you process your claim, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to working with you.
