Workers' Compensation Attorney Los Angeles
It’s critical you take steps to file your workers’ compensation claim within the first 30 days after sustaining your workplace illness or injury. Within 60 days your case is normally finalized and ideally you and your employer are in agreement on the range of benefits you are to receive.
Keep in mind, your employer is legally obligated to provide you necessary medical treatment following your workplace illness or injury. But your actions early on in the process may ultimately improve the benefits and level of treatment you receive.
If your claim is approved, then you will receive the money and benefits required to recover and pay for day-to-day costs. However, if a claim is denied then it can feel like all your work invested into the workers’ compensation process has been wasted. Don’t panic; you still have options! Depending on the basis for your claim’s denial, you can resubmit your claim and still be approved.
In fact, you may be better off than before according to a Lockton study. Lockton is an insurance business insider and the company found that nearly 70% of denied workers’ comp claims are later accepted with an average 55% higher settlement amount than the original.
Yes! Absolutely. The workers’ compensation system in California is designed to provide both treatment and benefits for injured workers, regardless of immigration status. In fact, California employment protection laws and federal immigration laws are treated separately. Workers’ compensation cases do not address immigration status and immigration laws do not address workers’ compensation benefits.
But filing for workers’ comp as an undocumented worker may be more complicated. And while you are entitled to certain benefits, you are not guaranteed the same benefits as a documented worker.
Or more importantly, can you be fired for filing a workers’ compensation claim? The answer is clearly NO!
California law states under Labor Code 132A that an employer cannot discriminate against “workers who are injured in the course and scope of their employment.” In other words, this means you cannot be legally fired solely because you were injured on the job and filed a workers’ compensation claim.
The good news is that workers’ comp protects workers from the sometimes crippling medical costs of work-related injuries. The even better news: the direct payments that come from workers’ compensation benefits with regards to loss of income and disability benefits are all tax-free.
Typically, after suffering a workplace injury or illness, there is a period of recovery where the employee is unable to perform any of their regular work duties. During this period, you are entitled to two-thirds of your original salary. Additionally, if your injury or illness leaves you with a temporary disability, requiring you take on modified or “light duty” work at a lower pay than before the accident, you would still receive benefits to offset the difference in pay.
If you are permanently disabled and cannot return to work in any kind of capacity, you qualify for Permanent Total Disability (PTD) benefits. This is reserved for the most debilitating conditions (i.e. loss of both arms or legs). PTD benefits are calculated in a similar fashion to PPD benefits, but are usually paid for the rest of the employee’s life. This results in either advanced payments to the worker or, as is often the case, a lump sum payment of future medical benefits.