Workplace Accidents Are All Too Common
Accidents happen, despite the best precautions you and your employer may take to avoid them. Fortunately, there are many schemes at the local, state and federal levels designed to protect workers. This includes those who are injured in the workplace, including commuting to their job sites, or who have contracted a work-related disease.
Together, these various government schemes provide some security and compensation for injured workers. They are intended to provide prompt medical treatment, injury management, rehabilitation and a limited income when you cannot work. However, in reality, many workers need to hire compensation lawyers to help them receive and maximise these benefits.
What Common Workplace Injuries Are Covered By Workers’ Compensation?
Most people think that you must have a physical injury in order to receive workers’ compensation benefits. While these are the most commonly compensated types of injuries, psychological injuries may also be covered.
Common injuries include:
- Spinal cord injuries
- Back, neck and disc injuries
- Loss of the use of or loss of arm, fingers, hands, shoulders, leg, toes, feet or joints
- Head and eye injuries
- Repetitive use injuries to shoulders, hips, wrists and knees.
- Strokes, heart attacks and lung diseases and asthma
- Cancer, asbestos or chemical exposure
- Burns
- Infections and infectious diseases
- Psychological conditions.
With any of these conditions, it can take years for any symptoms to show. Some workers can recall the moment they were exposed to a chemical while working. Others may have been exposed to a toxic chemical without even knowing it. A routine physical exam may unearth a change to your blood or another system that you never noticed.
Even If Your Injury Is Covered, Getting Compensated Isn’t Always Easy
Making a workers’ compensation claim on your own for any kind of work-related injury is not a simple task. Lodging a successful claim is not something we recommend you do on your own, although you can legally.
Most injured or sick workers choose to work with a compensation lawyer for several reasons:
- The law involved is very complicated
- Filing a claim and following through takes time and energy
- Workers without attorneys representing them often face discrimination and delays in receiving benefits.
What Rights Do You Have as a Worker?
An employer cannot legally discriminate against you if you make a claim for workers’ compensation. However, many workers find that their employers become quite hostile to them once they do make a claim.
Having a skilled workers’ compensation lawyer can help level the playing field. Additionally, because the workers comp system is very complicated, an attorney will help make the claim process go smoothly.
The various state schemes affect the benefits that may be available to you, the amount of time your claim will take to process and where to file your claim. Once your workers’ compensation lawyer understands your unique situation, he or she can determine which rights and benefits apply.
What Compensation Is Available To Workers And Their Families?
Employers contribute to the various workers’ compensation schemes and must provide workers’ compensation insurance for their employees. The overall scheme is designed to facilitate timely and orderly benefit payments for a work accident that injures you or causes a disease.
Compensation may be available:
- To reimburse you for medical and hospital expenses
- For wages you may have lost because your injury kept you from working
- Rehabilitation or retraining sevices
- If you have a permanent injury
- To compensate the family of a deceased worker
- Some travel expenses for medical or other reasons.
Don’t Let Your Employer Take Advantage!
Consult with a workers’ compensation lawyer to understand what your rights are. Employers and insurance companies may try to take advantage of your lack of legal knowledge to deny your claim. They may also try to minimise the severity of your injury or say that a long-term illness is not the employer’s fault.
Your compensation lawyer will protect you and help you obtain the maximum compensation possible for your injuries. If you have a family member who was killed while working or died after suffering from a work-related injury or disease, working with a lawyer can help you obtain death benefits.
Taylor & Scott compensation lawyers are among Sydney’s most respected and established workers’ compensation practitioners. Since 1905 we have been helping injured workers receive the compensation they deserve to help them move forward with their lives and return to work safely whenever possible.
Please contact us for a free consultation about your workers’ compensation case. We will protect your legal right to fair compensation and fair treatment.
At Taylor & Scott “ We Care For You.”
