Workers’ comp has many benefits for employees who have been injured at work. Unfortunately, too few employees realize that. When you’re at work, you have real rights. You’re entitled to a safe workspace and you’re also entitled to benefits when you’re hurt at that workspace. You shouldn’t have to suffer without having many of your bills taken care of. Ultimately, that’s one of the benefits that workers’ comp offers. Here at the ODG Law Group, an experienced Los Angeles workers’ comp attorney can guide you through the process, being by your side every step of the way.
What a Los Angeles Workers’ Comp Attorney Can Do
One of the major services that our attorneys can provide is that they can make people aware of their rights. Too few know what they’re entitled to at work, and just assume that workers’ comp is something they can’t be a part of. However, when you’re hurt at work, you deserve workers’ comp for what you’re going through. There’s nothing complex about this in theory. However, in actual application, it can get very complicated indeed. That’s one of the critical reasons to have an attorney on your side: we can take care of the paperwork so that you can focus on getting better.
That’s something we specialize in here at the ODG Law Group: we take care of all of the paperwork for you. When you’re recovering from a work injury, that’s what you should be doing: recovering. The last thing you need to worry about is filling out forms or deadlines. You should be focused on yourself, on the people around you that love you, not about some silly form. That’s where we come in. We can take care of the forms so that you can focus all of your attention on that which is so much more important.
The aftermath of a workplace injury can have reverberations through the rest of your life. When you’re hurt at work, it doesn’t just affect you: it affects everyone else around you in your life. Your loved ones who love you and count on you financially, they’re certainly affected. That’s one of the major reasons to get workers’ compensation in fact: so you can take care of the people around you. This is why we always recommend contacting attorneys if you feel like you have any potential of making a workers’ comp claim. The people who count on you are counting on you.
Workers’ Comp and Medical Care
Medical costs in the wake of a work related injury can absolutely sky rocket. That’s where workers’ comp can come in. Workers’ comp can pay for your medical care. In fact, that’s one of the main benefits of workers’ comp. See, your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance can help you to recover from the injury you suffered at work. That’s one of the benefits you deserve through your workers’ comp. Your employer has this insurance just in case you’re injured on the job. We can advocate on your behalf to make sure that you get all of the medical care compensation that you’re entitled to. As ever, it’s important to remember that work related injuries are not the only negative fates that can befall you at work that are deserving of workers’ comp. If you suffer a work related illness, that can fall under the heading of workers’ comp as well. People get sick at work all the time, but when you fall ill because your job has exposed you to toxins, toxic locations or anything else that could make you ill, you deserve workers’ comp for that. Treatment for that is absolutely the kind of thing that workers’ comp is designed to do.
Gradual Injuries Vs. Instant Injuries
By that same token, the injuries that have medical care covered by workers’ comp aren’t just injuries that happen in the blink of an eye. Sure, everyone understands that workers’ comp covers the person working in the loading zone who has something fall on them, causing them an injury. However, that same loading zone worker deserves workers’ comp if they’ve been working in that loading zone for thirty years and developed significantly hand, knee, back injuries or other as a result. The person who suffers a “cumulative trauma” or “repetitive stress” injury is just as deserving of workers’ comp as anyone else.
Also, it’s important to stipulate that the medical care that workers’ comp pays for can cover quite a bit. Some may think that it just covers a few certain therapies, maybe a painkiller or two, but it can actually be more comprehensive than that. Here at the ODG Law Group, we’ve helped clients to receive compensation for all different kinds of medical expense. Many have been compensated for doctor visits, but others have also been compensated when medical professionals run diagnostics on them as well, like MRI’s, X-Rays, Nerve Conduction Studies and more. Medical care can include quite a bit of medicine, physical therapy, equipment, travel and more – we’ve helped clients received care and reimbursements as part of the workers’ comp system.
Workers’ compensation is not just a form of health insurance. It does not just cover your medical care (even though that is a significant expense that it often covers). Workers’ compensation can also cover disability benefits, too. When you’re recovering from an injury at work (particularly if it was a bad injury) you may not be able to do your typical job as you struggle to recover. That doesn’t mean that you should just force yourself to try to do your old job to the best of your ability. It also doesn’t mean that you should go penniless, without means of income. The disability benefits from workers’ compensation allow you to keep making money while your injury keeps you unable to do your old job.
However, that’s not where workers’ compensation stops. Hopefully, after your injury heals, you’ll be able to return to your old job, even better than before. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. In those circumstances, you deserve to be compensated for that, as well. If you don’t recovery completely, it will be difficult for you to do your old job as well as you did. So, workers’ compensation can also help you to get a settlement and recover financially if your injury causes a permanent loss of the abilities that allowed you to do that job. It’s important to remember here that this is true whether those permanent losses are physical or mental.
You didn’t want to be injured at work. You were just doing your job to the best of your ability. You deserve to be compensated while you recover as well as for what you lost. “Lost wages” shouldn’t be permanently lost forever. When you lose wages on account of your job, you deserve to make that money up. Workers compensation can cover that, and we can walk you through the process so that it does. Return lost wages to their rightful place: your bank account.
Workers’ Comp Experts
No one wants to have to deal with workers’ comp. it’d be better if no one got hurt at work at all. However, when it happens, you have to avail yourself of your rights. You owe it to yourself and the people in your life that are counting on you. If you’d like to schedule a free consultation, we’re always here to help. Give us a call at (818) 975-3080 or head to our site.
