- Workers' Compensation
Many work environments are, by their very nature, challenging spaces to work in and pose serious risks for accidents. But this does not mean that workplace accidents can’t happen in comparatively safer workspaces.
Slip and falls, repetitive motion injuries, automobile accidents, workplace fights, and all sorts of such things can cause trouble for the victims and result in filing a workers compensation claim. The economic toll of such occurrences is matched only by the immense physical and emotional trauma associated with the accident.
But when something’s done, it’s done – there’s no way to undo it! The only thing you can do is to get in touch with competent Fort Lauderdale workers comp lawyers and file a workers compensation claim to recover economic and non-economic losses from the incident.
But why do you need to hire a Fort Lauderdale injury lawyer, you may ask? When you’re done reading through this article, you’ll understand how you can file a workers compensation claim and how an attorney helps you redeem a fair settlement for your losses.
Immediate Steps When Filing a Workers Compensation Claim After a Workplace Accident
What you do immediately after an accident at the workplace (or a work-related accident) will matter a lot in the end. You need to be the master of your senses and maintain a sense of your surroundings. This is important because you’ll need evidence to prove that the accident did happen and that it was as serious as you claim.
For this, you’ll have to capture photographs and videos – creating evidence to help the other parties look at the scene and your injuries as you did originally. You must do this even if there are surveillance cameras on the workplace premises, the idea is to have firsthand evidence to make your point when filing a workers compensation claim.
Capture the accident scene, your injuries, and other damages in the frame.
1) Inform Your Employer
You should let your employer know about the incident, formally, and preferably in writing. Email is the best option, since you won’t have to hand the note in person and will have a record with you as well. Ideally, your employer will ask you to fill out a couple of forms for the insurance claim.
You should not delay informing your employer or pursuing the next stages of the workers compensation claim, because delay on your part will be used as an excuse to suggest that your losses weren’t as severe as you claimed.
Don’t worry though, your employer is (hopefully) on your side, they got the insurance coverage specifically to help you through such challenging times.
2) Seek Medical Assistance
Usually, the insurance provider for your employer will have some preferred medical care centers for you to reach out to. If the situation is dire and you don’t know who your employer prefers for workplace injury diagnosis, you can reach out to any experienced and licensed professional for a thorough diagnosis.
Once again, there is no room for delay at this stage – seek medical help as soon as you can, ideally, within a couple of hours or at least the same day. Based on your injuries, the doctor will either diagnose your injuries externally or use advanced diagnostic tools to understand the full extent of your bodily damage.
Keep the doctor’s notes and your medical bills at hand for later use in the workers’ comp claim.
3) Document Your Losses
As all experienced and professional Fort Lauderdale workers comp lawyers will attest, you need evidence to prove your narrative. Photos and videos from the accident scene, medical bills, diagnosis reports, attendance records from your employer, and so on can help you further your claim effectively. Share your documented evidence with your lawyer to see how best to approach your workers compensation claim.
4) Reach Out to a Competent Fort Lauderdale Injury Lawyer
The one person you can trust without a doubt throughout this whole compensation process is your attorney. You must discuss all details of the case with your attorney before you move any further with the compensation claim.
If you take on the settlement negotiations on your own, you’ll only end up with a nominal compensation sum for your losses. This won’t be even remotely enough to cover all your damages. Once your lawyer has assessed your economic and non-economic damages, they will prepare your case and represent you effectively to get you fairly reimbursed in such hard times.
5) Seek a Settlement With the Insurance Adjuster
Negotiating with the insurance adjuster is the most important stage of the whole process, this is what you were preparing for throughout this whole time. The insurance adjuster will look at all aspects of the case, including your past medical history, to be able to come up with excuses to slash down your compensation sum.
This is where your lawyer will matter the most – they will represent you and strive to get you compensated fairly for your losses, circumventing the pitfalls laid down by the insurance company.
Our Fort Lauderdale Workers Comp Lawyers Can Help!
Throughout this whole workers compensation claim process, you need legal advice on all matters and to make sure that you’re getting the compensation that is rightfully yours.
It is common for insurance adjusters to downplay your sufferings or trick you into getting a nominal settlement – if you accept their first offer, then that’s it, there won’t be anything after that. Only an experienced Fort Lauderdale injury lawyer can help you out here by representing you before the adjuster and putting your compensation demand forward as meaningfully and strongly as possible.
Work Injury Rights is committed to helping professionals like you who’ve suffered due to a workplace accident. We believe that you should be compensated fairly. To better understand how we can help you specifically, give us a call and book a consultation appointment where we’ll lay it all out for you. After that, we can begin working on your case!
