Workers’ Comp Lawyer Orlando

Clarifying Workers’ Comp Claims

When you get injured on the job or develop an illness as a result of your employment, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation. In Florida, workers’ comp is a no-fault insurance system that pays for workers’ medical care and missed wages when they are harmed in the course of their employment. This coverage protects employers from some lawsuits and helps ensure employees are taken care of after workplace injuries or illnesses.

Unfortunately, the system does not always function as planned. Sometimes, employers mislead their employees to avoid increased insurance costs and others, insurance companies refuse to honor valid claims. At the state level, the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) oversees the workers’ comp system and the Division of Workers’ Compensation within the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) ensures employees receive the proper benefits.

At Maaswinkel Law, P.A., we are familiar with working with these important regulatory bodies, and we understand how to make the workers’ comp process work for you.

Common Types of Workplace Injuries

You can get hurt at any workplace in any industry, but accidents are more common in industries like mining and construction. Some of the workplace injury cases we see most often at our firm include:

• Workplace slip and fall accidents
• Car accidents during work
• Strains and sprains
• Cuts and lacerations
• Fractures
• Back injuries
• Carpal tunnel
• Repetitive stress injuries
• Improper lifting injuries
• Overuse injuries
• Occupational illnesses
• Chemical exposure claims
• Eye injuries
• And more
  

Filing a Claim (and Medical Benefits)

The Florida worker compensation system is laid out in Chapter 440 of the Florida Statutes. That law requires you to report an on-the-job accident to your supervisor within 30 days of the accident. After reporting your accident and injuries, your employer may send you to the hospital emergency room or to an urgent care facility such as Centra Care. Do not fall for the trick where your boss tells you to lie to the hospital or urgent care to tell them that you got hurt at home! You should also be aware that you are not required to provide a social security number to a hospital or walk-in clinic to get treatment. Follow-up treatment after the initial emergency treatment is then authorized by the work comp insurance company. In most circumstances, you do not get to see your own doctor for treatment if you are hurt on the job. Work comp sends you to the doctors they choose. If you do not like the insurance company’s doctors, you are entitled to a one-time change in a physician selected by your WC claims adjuster. If the claims adjuster does not timely offer your one time a change in physician, you may choose the doctor. If the treatment was authorized by the worker compensation insurance company, you are not responsible for payment of the medical bills or prescriptions.

Other Benefits

In addition to medical benefits (outlined above), you are entitled to temporary total disability benefits (TTD) or temporary partial disability benefits (TPD) if you are out of work for more than 7 days. Temporary Total Disability benefits are paid to you every two weeks during the time that your doctor says no work. The TTD benefits are paid at 66 2/3% of your pre accident wages. If your doctor returned you to work with some restrictions or light duty, you may receive Temporary Partial Disability benefits every two weeks. If you are unable to return to work and have some permanent physical restrictions, you may be entitled to Permanent Total Disability benefits (PTD). These are biweekly checks that, in most cases, you will continue to receive until you reach age 75.

Traveling back and forth to your doctors gets expensive. Workman’s Comp must reimburse your travel and mileage expenses for going to and coming from medical appointments.

If work comp or your employer denies you medical treatment or disability benefits, you should get a lawyer. We charge you nothing unless we win!