Workers Compensation Disputes and Understanding Your Rights

Workers compensation has been serving the American workforce in some form or another for over 100 years. Generally speaking workers compensation is a straight forward process that awards payment to injured parties who have had an accident whilst at work. The payment is made by the company's insurance carrier and does not go through a court process, therefore an experienced team of Riverside workers compensation attorneys do not normally get involved.

On the whole the system works very well and injured parties are compensated for their injuries in order to cover immediate medical costs within 72 hours. However having said this, legitimate workers comp claims are also routinely underpaid, poorly investigated and even totally denied. When this happens it is imperative that you contact an experienced team of Riverside County worker comp attorneys who can explain your rights

In the perfect world, what should happen is that an injured worker should file a claim for workers compensation and should then see a designated doctor (either chosen by the injured party, or an appointed physician by the insurer) for evaluation. Once they have given their evaluation and the insurer approves, then payment should be released to cover immediate medical expenses and a loss of wages. This means that the worker can concentrate on their recovery and getting themselves fit enough to go back to work. In reality this is all too often not the case.

In many instances claims are either stalled or denied for legitimate reasons such as;

• The insurer believes that the injury did not occur whist the person was doing their job
• There is a pre-existing condition, such as on going back pain
• There is a lack of evidence supporting the workers compensation claim
• The employee didn't file a claim form within the allotted time scale
• The employee failed to submit to a physical examination within the given time frame

However they could well be denied or stalled for reasons that aren't quite so legitimate. Some of these are as follows:

• The employer hasn't been keeping up their workers comp premium payments and therefore their policy has run out
• The employer has failed to pass the claim up to the insurer
• The insurance carrier has not read your claim properly and therefore failed to pass it
• The insurance carrier 'has' read your claim and still failed to pass it
• The insurance adjuster has paid out but totally undervalued your claim.

If you have been in a similar situation whereby you have had a perfectly good and legitimate claim unfairly denied, then a team of Riverside workers compensation lawyers can guide you down the right channels to seek recourse.

If you have a disputed claim then your attorney will tell you that there are several processes that you can go through. The first is mediation and is an informal process whereby a neutral party tries to resolve the situation without going through the litigation process. If it cannot be resolved at this level, then you can take it on to the next step. At this stage you can opt to have your case heard by the workers compensation review board. This is more of a formal hearing and you can be represented by an attorney who can present the case on your behalf. If this fails, then you can take it to appeal in a state court. However be aware that this is the 'last chance saloon' and whatever is decreed here is the final decision.

If this all sounds a little bit daunting, it needn't be. A firm of experienced Riverside workers compensation attorneys deal with situations like this all the time. This is their bread and butter and a result, they will fight your corner in order to deliver a favorable outcome. In many circumstances if successful, they can instruct the insurance company to pay out on your clam in full, but on top of this they may also seek to claim punitive damages for the stress and anguish you have been placed under. Therefore if you have had a legitimate workers compensation claim unfairly denied then contact an attorney today.