Suffering an injury at work is scary and stressful.  It is important to understand what benefits your worker’s compensation claim can provide for you and how a worker’s compensation lawyer can help.  Under New York State Worker’s Compensation Law, injured workers have two types of benefits available to them as part of their claim.

The first type of benefit is the right to medical treatment.  Medical benefits include doctors’ visits, prescription coverage, physical therapy, and even surgery.  In order for an injured worker to treat for his work-related injury, he must treat with a doctor who is licensed to treat injured workers.  This means the doctor follows the New York State Worker’s Compensation Medical Treatment Guidelines and complies with the procedural requirements including providing regular treatment, filing reports with the Worker’s Compensation Board, and providing medical opinions as to degree of disability caused by a workplace injury. Your worker’s compensation lawyer will assist your doctor in complying with these requirements.  By working together with your doctor, your lawyer will make sure that your medical treatment does not suffer.  Additionally, your lawyer will make sure that the reports from your doctor are received by the Worker’s Compensation Board. These reports are crucial. They are the difference between getting compensated for your injury or not.  Your lawyer will take on the responsibility of helping your doctors so that you can focus on treatment and recover from your workplace injury.

The second type of benefit is lost wage benefits.  If you’ve suffered an injury at work and are unable to work as a result, then you are (understandably) incredibly stressed.  The worker’s compensation system is often difficult to navigate while also trying to focus on treating your injury.  That is why it is good to have a worker’s compensation attorney who can make sure that you are receiving every benefit afforded to you under the Worker’s Compensation law. Your attorney will make sure that the Worker’s Compensation insurance carrier is calculating your lost time benefits correctly.  Your attorney can request a hearing at the Worker’s Compensation Board to make sure that your benefits cannot be suspended without notice.  In addition, if you return to work but you are earning less money than you were earning before your injury (for example, you return to work but only on a part time basis due to your injury), your attorney can help you get benefits called reduced earnings to supplement your income.   And when the time is right, your attorney can calculate an appropriate settlement of your claim so that you receive the best possible settlement.

Hiring the right worker’s compensation attorney can make all the difference in your injury claim. The right attorney will fight to make sure all your medical benefits are covered and that you receive all of the lost time benefits you are entitled to under the Workers’ Compensation Law.