Jacksonville Workers’ Compensation Attorneys

Every year, millions of workers’ are injured on the job — as often as one worker every seven seconds, according to the National Safety Council. These injuries can range from minor to severe, with the latter resulting in lost wages, expensive medical bills, and even permanent disability preventing any future work. This can be a stressful situation for any family, which is what workers’ compensation laws aim to address.

If you are working under an employer, it is their responsibility to provide a safe working environment for you and your fellow employees. This is especially important in particularly dangerous industries, such as construction as well as transportation and warehousing. Despite best efforts to ensure a safe environment, accidents can still happen and that is why employers in Florida are also responsible for providing workers’ compensation insurance.

If you were hurt in a workplace accident, you are entitled to compensation. However, many injured workers’ often have trouble obtaining the compensation they deserve. Claims are sometimes denied by an employer disputing the injury, or employees are declared fit to work by employer-appointed doctors despite their condition making it difficult to do so. Having the best Jacksonville workers’ compensation lawyer will be essential to getting the benefits you deserve from your employer and insurance companies. As Sternberg | Forsythe, P.A., we can help you fight for the workers’ compensation you deserve.

Understanding Florida Workers’ Comp Process and Coverage

The coverage of your workers’ compensation insurance is meant to cover the expenses for getting hurt on the job and being unable to continue working afterward. There are two general types of workers’ compensation benefits — payments for necessary medical treatments, including general care, prescription medication, or medical devices, and payments for lost wages and reparation of work-related disability. Do keep in mind that if you accept this assistance, any liability incurred by your coworkers’ or employer due to your injury will be wiped clean. In exchange for the benefits, you give up your right to sue anyone that may have been involved. This is general practice for workers’ compensation cases.

In addition, any payments you may receive will not include compensation for your pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, or similar personal damages. At Sternberg | Forsythe, P.A., we will guide you through every step of the legal process and ensure that your rights are being honored. Our team of Jacksonville workers’ compensation lawyers will do our best to help you through this difficult time. While it may be intimidating to begin filing a workers’ compensation claim, our team will help you navigate the process. Here is an overview:

Documenting and Filing a Workers’ Comp Claim

It is highly important that you immediately notify your employer of any injury. You must make your claim within 30 days after the accident, or be at risk of being denied. After reporting to your employer, contact us and we will help you file your workers’ compensation claim correctly. In order to ensure the highest amount of success for your claim, be sure to take these actions:

Report your injury to your employer within 30 days
Document the time and place of your on-the-job accident
Explain how the injury occurred clearly and accurately
List all witnesses to the accident
Notify your workers’ compensation insurance carrier about the injury
Submit appeals on time in the case of denied benefits

Aside from these actions, be sure to take your injury seriously. Even if you think you were not seriously injured, your condition may worsen over time, and waiting to file a claim will make it harder to remember the details accurately. Do not hesitate to seek out medical care either, as early treatment will lessen future health complications. Remember that you are entitled to these benefits, but never assume that your employer or insurance carrier will make it easy to claim them. Do not agree to any off-the-books settlements, and instead call legal professionals like us at Sternberg | Forsythe, P.A. to help you fight for the compensation you deserve.

Settling Insurance Disputes

After you have reported your injury to your employer, they have to notify the insurance carrier within seven days. If they do not, you can contact the appropriate government agency for free legal help, or get in touch with our team of experienced Jacksonville workers’ compensation lawyers. We can help you with any legal action that needs to be taken, especially if your claim is denied by the insurance company or employer arguing that the injury is not as serious as reported, or that it happened off the job.

Obtaining the Correct Benefits

Depending on your situation, you may be entitled to certain benefits other than payment for lost wages and medical bills, such as:

Retraining/education
Rehabilitation
Prescription drugs
Travel expenses to and from medical appointments
Temporary total disability benefits
Temporary partial disability benefits
Permanent total disability benefits

We will be able to examine your medical records and the details of your accident to determine what benefits you deserve to receive. Workers’ compensation settlements represent a voluntary agreement between the employee and the employer’s workers’ comp insurance carrier. While it can not require your employer to hold your job until you can return to work, existing laws do prevent you from being fired for filing a workers’ compensation claim.

What Injuries Are Covered by Jacksonville Workers’ Comp?

According to workers’ compensation law, you do not have to prove how or why your injuries occurred. Workers’ compensation is meant to be a no-fault system that will provide you with compensation regardless of whether the employer was negligent or at fault. Injuries can result from a dangerous working environment, unavoidable accidents, improperly maintained equipment, inadequate training, or other possible reasons. Some of the on-the-job injury issues that we can help with include:

Hearing damage or complete hearing loss,
Muscular injuries, torn ligaments, herniated disks that occur from pushing, lifting or other actions, torn rotator cuffs and broken bones,
Construction accidents,
Illness due to exposure to toxins, which include occupational diseases such as black lung or mesothelioma,
Repetitive motion injuries, such as tendonitis,
Head injuries, such as TBIs or concussions from a falling object,
Various injuries to your spinal cord, hip, back, ankles, knees, respiratory organs, neck, hands, feet or wrists,
Burn or heat or cold stress injuries,
Third-party claims,
and more.

What to Do When a Claim Is Denied

While workers’ compensation is meant to cushion workers’ from the effects of any workplace injury, the process is difficult. There may be situations where an insurance company or the worker’s employer will try to dispute the claim and downplay the severity of the individual’s injury, or argue that the injury did not occur while on the job. Worse still is that they may minimize and outright deny the benefits they are required to pay out to their injured workers’.

The process can be difficult to navigate, especially for a worker that is already affected by their injury. We can help. Our team of attorneys has years of experience representing injured workers’ and helping them get the benefits they deserve. If you or anyone you know has been denied their workers’ compensation, contact us today for our assistance.

Get the Assistance of Experienced Jacksonville Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

If you have been the victim of a serious workplace injury, get in touch with expert Jacksonville workers’ compensation lawyers. At Sternberg | Forsythe, P.A., our goal is to help you achieve the benefits, compensation, and services rightfully yours after a workplace injury. Our team of experienced legal professionals will work hard on your behalf so you can focus fully on your physical and emotional recovery. Call us today at 561-687-5660 or contact us online for a free case evaluation.

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