If you’ve suffered a work-related injury, illness or disability in New York State, you may be eligible for Workers’ Compensation Benefits.
The first thing you need to do, after reporting your injury, is to contact a competent, New York State Workers’ Compensation Law Attorney.
The Workers’ Compensation Law in New York State dates back to 1914. Over the years the laws have been amended many times and changes continue to this day. So … it is in your best interest to fully understand what your rights are and what your employer’s responsibilities are. Any time a serious injury occurs while at work, it is imperative to talk to a New York State lawyer. Some workplace accidents may permit the injured party to sue a third party (e.g., product manufacturer, land owner or someone other than the employer who contributed to the injury). There are laws specific to New York that offer additional protection to certain workers, such as workers at a construction site. Consultation with a lawyer is essential any time there is a serious injury.
There is no consultation fee for lawyers representing an injured person and there is no cost to the injured party unless compensation is won.
The Workers’ Compensation Board is a New York State agency that decides claims filed under the Workers’ Compensation Law. The Board has offices throughout the State. In New York City, Workers’ Compensation Board offices are located at 125th Street in Manhattan, Livingston Street in Brooklyn, 89th Avenue in Jamaica, Queens and Bay Street in Staten Island (see appendix for the addresses and phone numbers of these offices). The Board functions similar to a court, providing Workers’ Compensation Law Judges to rule on disputes between injured workers and insurance companies. The Board does this by holding hearings or by issuing written decisions based on the file presented by the injured worker, the treating doctors, the insurance company, and the insurance company’s medical consultants. In order to be sure your case stands the best chance, an experienced Workers Compensation Lawyer should be obtained as soon as possible. Make no mistake, the Workers Compensation Board has its own lawyers and you don;t want to face them alone.
INJURIES, ILLNESS AND DISABILITY
In order to receive Workers’ Compensation Benefits, an employee must prove that they have an injury, illness or disability caused by or in the course of their work, and that they gave the proper notice to their employer. A claim for an accident must be filed by the injured worker with the Workers’ Compensation Board within two years of the incident or condition(s) that caused the injury, illness or disability (however in some rare cases the failure to file is excused for certain limited reasons).
The law requires the injured worker to give their employer a written report of the accident within 30 days of the accident. This requirement is often excused by the Workers’ Compensation Board where it is shown that the employer had knowledge of the accident within the 30-day time period.
To establish a case, the injured worker must have a medical report stating that a work-related accident or condition was the cause of the injury, illness or disability. Without a medical report stating this, the Workers’ Compensation Board will not consider the case.
Occupational diseases are also covered by the New York State Workers Compensation Board. An occupational disease is a condition which is caused by the specific type of job over a period of time. For example, a person who works as a typist may, after a period of weeks, months, or years, develop a problem with their hands or wrists. The problem may be related to doing the same thing over and over, as opposed to one specific incident. An occupational disease may also result from being exposed to a substance typical to your job over a long period of time. An example of this type of occupational disease would be bakers’ asthma, which occurs from being exposed to flour dust over a long period of time.
The notice and claim filing time limitations in occupational disease cases are very technical, and depend on many factors including the date of first medical treatment, the date of first lost time from work, and the date that you knew or should have known that your problem was work-related. It is up to the Workers’ Compensation Board to decide whether any particular claim for an occupational disease was filed timely. Once again, it is strongly recommended that you seek legal representation by a New York State Workers Compensation specialist.
COMPENSATION BENEFITS
The compensation an injured employee may receive depends on two factors: average weekly wage and degree of disability. Typically, your average wage is what you earned in the year previous to the accident/illness. Degree of disability has several factors, a New York State Workers Compensation attorney will provide you with the details relevant to each case. General, a person may be either totally or partially disabled. Under workers’ compensation, total disability is an inability to do any kind of work whatsoever. Partial disability means that a person can do some type of work, even if they cannot do the type of work they were doing at the time of the accident.
MEDICAL TREATMENT
Once a compensation case is accepted by the insurance company or established by the Workers Compensation Board, medical expenses related to the accident are covered. Only doctors and chiropractors who are coded by the Workers’ Compensation Board may treat compensation patients. Doctors and chiropractors are not permitted to bill a compensation patient directly but must send their bills and reports to the insurance company and the Workers’ Compensation Board. If there is a dispute regarding a medical bill, the insurance company must file a form with the Compensation Board advising it of the dispute. The bill will then be addressed at a hearing or sent to arbitration, but while it is pending the health care provider must wait to be paid. As a Workers’ Compensation claimant you should never pay a health care provider for a medical bill for treatment related to the workers’ compensation case.
If a doctor or chiropractor requests a test or procedure which will cost less than $500, no advance approval from the insurance company is required. If the test or procedure will cost $500 or more, the insurance company is entitled to obtain an opinion from one of their own medical consultants as to whether the test is necessary. The insurance company is required to obtain the examination within 30 days of the date it receives the request for authorization from the treating doctor.
INJURIES TO A LIMB
If you have injured a limb … an arm, leg, finger, or toe, if you have a facial scar, or if you have a hearing or vision loss as the result of an accident on the job, you may be entitled to an award of compensation even if you lose no time from work. With awards of this type, weekly benefits paid while you are out of work may be deducted from your final compensation award.
As with all legal matters, having a New York State Legal team by your side is highly recommended. When it comes to your health it becomes imperative.
Don’t face the future alone . . . contact an experienced New York State Workers Compensation attorney and let them deal with the red tape so you can recover and resume a healthy, fulfilling life.
Contributed By Beck Law: Call 516-388-7785 to schedule a free consultation.
