Hey guys, I've come to the realization that I don't hate most of you or wish any of you specific harm so I wanted to do something to help the community. Sure, I could donate money to the website, but money only gets you so far, right? So, I figured I would offer up something way more valuable, my professional advice!

As most of you know I'm an attorney. I specialize in workers' compensation, specifically on the side of the employees. Been doing this now for over 20 years.

I run into a lot of situations where an injured worker comes to see me and the first thing I have to do is dig them out of the hole they put themselves in by either following bad advice or following the orders of their employers even though they legally don't have to do so.

So, some advice....

If you get hurt on the job always report it to your supervisor right away. Under the law you have 45 days to report the accident, however MANY insurance denials are based on the employer saying that they were never notified of the accident. Even if notice is given within that 45 days, the longer you wait the more suspicious the insurance companies get and the more likely they are to fight a claim. Now, something that happens often is someone will get hurt at the end of the week and because men are tough they will say to themselves, "Instead of reporting it right away, I'm going to wait and see how I feel after the weekend and if it still hurts I'll report it then." The problem with that is that "over the weekend" is, according to insurance companies, the period of time when all workers move heavy furniture, engage in tackle football and fall off of ladders while cleaning the gutters at home. The old hurt it Friday, reported it on Monday always raises red flags with the insurance companies and might lead to a denial.

So, even if you think its not a significant injury, always report it right away. You can always go back to the boss a week later and tell him the injury subsided if that happens.


Second bit of advice. A lot of times, people get hurt, report it right away and then the boss tells them they HAVE to go to the company clinic, usually some shit hole like Concentra or Mercy Works or Physicians Immediate Care. Under the law, you DO NOT have to go to the doctor they tell you to go to! You have the right to choose your own doctor and the employer's insurance company has to pay for it. Now let me tell you why this can be a big issue. Let's say you hurt your back, report it right away and they tell you to go to Concentra. Being the good worker you do what you're told. You go to concentra, the barely English speaking doctor looks at you for 5 seconds and then diagnoses you with a back strain and tells you to return to work. The next day you realize your back really hurts and you go to see your own doctor as is your right. Your doctor writes you a note saying you should be off work for 4 weeks while you get treatment.

Now here is the problem. You turn in the 4 week off work slip to your job, but the insurance company says they aren't going to pay you workers comp while you are off work because the Concentra doctor says you can go to work now. Two different doctors saying two different things. Insurance company unilaterally decides that they are only going to listen to the Concentra doctor and deny you your work comp. Can they do? Yes. Granted, as a lawyer I can fight that and have an arbitrator decide which doctor to believe, but that process can take months and even years. During that time, the worker is still not getting paid because the insurance company doesn't have to follow the other doctor until they are told to by the arbitrator.

So, I always tell my clients if you get hurt and they try to tell you to go to a specific doctor, politely decline and tell them you are going to the emergency room at the local hospital or your own doctor. I always recommend my clients go straight to the ER in that situation. ER doctor will give you 1-3 days off work during which we have time to get you in to a good doctor who can supplement those 1-3 days with additional time if needed. If you don't go to Concentra then the other side will have no choice but to honor the ER doctor and treating doctor's orders.

People always ask me if they can be fired for refusing to do what your boss says. Its a good question. Technically, if you are an at will employee you can be fired for basically anything. But, if you are fired for filing a work comp claim or fired for any action related to that claim, your former company can be sued for retaliatory discharge which is a pretty big deal. That said, in my 20 years I've had one client fired for filing a work comp claim so it's very rare.

Lastly, another thing I see often is where a worker doesn't have an attorney and the insurance company accepts the claim and pays all the work comp and medical bills and everything goes smoothly. The worker doesn't get an attorney because they figure they aren't having any issues so why do they need an attorney? What they don't know or realize is that at the end of the case the worker is entitled to receive a lump sum settlement for any permanent disability they suffer. The insurance company tries to keep the worker happy so they won't get a lawyer and then at the end of the case they will surprise the worker with a settlement offer to close out the file. They hope that he worker will be so pleasantly surprised that they accept the offer with no hesitation. This is a big no no.

I can say with certainty that you will always get a very low ball offer in that scenario. I can also say with certainty that if you hire a lawyer you will end up with more money even after paying the attorney his 20% fee (all work comp attorney charge 20%). I recently had a case just like this. Guy blew out his knee, case was accepted and everything paid. At the end they surprised him with a $20,000 settlement offer. He came to me because he was unsure what to do or if the offer was any good. I took the case, ordered all the records and started negotiating a real settlement for him. I ended up having the case for less than 2 months and my client ended up with $36,000 in his pocket even after paying me my fee.

Also, even if things are going well you should always hire an attorney as soon as you get hurt. Obviously I'm biased, but the fact is that your employer has an insurance company with a team of lawyers working for them. It would be unwise to enter into that type of relationship unrepresented. Also, sometimes your claim is accepted and you get treatment for several months and then all of the sudden the insurance company decides you've been treating too long and they deny the rest of the claim. At that point you will obviously hire a lawyer, but now your lawyer needs to play catch up and get all the records and conduct an investigation which could take months. All this time you are sitting at home and not getting benefits. If you had a lawyer from day one he/she would be able to either fight the denial as it was happening or at least be ready to fight it in court immediately rather than needing months to figure out what happened.


So, to summarize...

-Always report your injuries right away.

-Always refuse to go to the company clinic/doctor and insist on going to ER or your own doctor

-Always hire an attorney as soon as you get hurt or at least hire an attorney to negotiate the final settlement.

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Very nice of you, Shakes. Hopefully I won't be in the position to need this but it's a good gesture.

And after all that pay Shakes 30-40%.

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Elections have consequences.

Good stuff shakes. Never would have thought about the Friday to Monday thing.

Nice Love Cruise reference on your bio Shakes.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

I wish I could take 40%, but those damn legislators realized that lawyers are greedy and capped us at 20%.

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Wow,
The other day I felt bad because Shakes told me my opinions suck.
After finding out he is a Lawyer,feeling much better.

You don't like my opinions,so sue me!

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I learned the hard way when I lost a trial, the only loss of my career, because the other side alleged that my client injured his back over the weekend moving a TV and the Arbitrator believed them. That was my first trial some 20 years ago and looking back I can see why my father was eager to farm that loser case out to me.

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I guess my question would be how did they know/prove your client had moved a TV unless he told them he did? And if he did move a TV (after possibly hurting himself at work the day before), then he deserved to lose.

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Good question. Other side had a co-worker come in and testify that my client helped him move a TV over the weekend. My client insisted he just drove the truck and didn't lift TV. Unfortunately, we were assigned to the most pro-employer Arbitrator (since fired for being too one sided) at the Commission and he chose to believe the co-worker. The point being that, if he had at least reported the injury on Friday there would've already been a documented history of him being injured at work which would've made it a lot tougher for the other side to blame the injury on the TV theory and a lot harder for the Arbitrator to side with the employer in the battle of "he said, she said" between the witnesses.

Even if you're not doing something as stupid as helping someone move, there are countless other weekend activities you could be doing that the insurance company will latch onto as a defense.

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Yeah? Well, I'm a director of insurance claims and my advice is to settle quickly. Don't listen to this ambulance chaser.

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Is shakes still in the tourny? He deserves to win for this alone.

I have a question. When I was in trucking they would beat us over the head with always using three points of contact when exiting the truck/trailer and NEVER jumping off the back of the trailer. Made us watch a 30 minute video, and sign something saying we watched it. They'd send qualcomm messages at least once a week "remember three points of contact and NO JUMPING OFF TRAILERS". We were told that if we were observed doing it on company property we'd be disciplined. Point is, they were very proactive communicating it.

So lets say some guy jumps off a trailer fucks both his knee up immediately and severly. Is he entitled to workman's comp?

pls no lawyer answers "well I'd have to review the case", but if you must give that answer I understand.

Sounds like another patented America scam in the works.

.

You sound like a woman who just got swindled by an Oxyclean commercial.

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Shakes, if I may ask, what was your take on that whole worker's comp reform law having to do with professional athletes and cutting off wage disparity payments past a certain age?

Was that bullshit outrage by the player's union, as pro athletes may have been entitled to payments tied to their theoretical potential earning power well past an age where they could have actually earned money as a professional?

Can I get WC for PTSD?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Outside of health insurance, workers compensation is typically the largest expense a business incurs with regard to the employees. Usually $1,000+/employee annually.

Many of the provisions in place are dictated by insurance companies in order to procure the insurance in the first place. Many insurance companies won't even offer WC depending on the industry.

So, there are reasons for some things. It does a business absolutely no good to have a dangerous workplace.

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You know me like that.

^doc is right. the insurance increases per worker for even a single incident can be in the thousands per year. a conclusive workplace safety program pays for itself many times over...

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

One of the guys I used to work with would pull the workman's comp scam every year or every year at the latest. Tried it once too many and it got him whacked. While he was on leave he decided to be a pall bearer at someone's funeral. Someone photographed him put it on Facebook and notified his employer shortly thereafter.


I thought about pulling some shit like this a few months ago when I tore my MCL/PCL hooping. I tore it over the weekend and briefly thought about trying to make it a work related issue. Had a few people try and get in my ear about faking an injury at work so that I could sit on my ass and collect. I eventually decided against it because I had too much to lose. I'm not going lie the shit was tempting but in the end not worth it.

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cuck.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

I don't think we have an issue with anyone promoting their business but as a courtesy you should probably reach out to one of us when you're trying to get some free advertising.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

So this means its ok to start another 'Breakfast Blog' thread?

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That's a great question and don't worry, I can definitely answer it. As long as you are acting in the scope of your employment and the action that causes your injury arises out of your employment, your injury would be covered by Workers Comp. So if you are in and out of your truck as part of the job and for whatever reason don't use the 3 points of contact and as a result you fall and injure yourself it is definitely a compensable injury.

You might think that sounds odd since the job makes it mandatory that everyone use 3 points of contact so therefore if you don't use 3 points of contact you aren't acting within the scope of your employment, but that's not the case. People at work are often under a lot of pressure to get their work done. Often, that pressure comes from their employers. The same people who are telling you to always make sure to have 3 points of contact are the same people who are also telling you to bust your ass and get all your deliveries done by a certain time. Similarly, the boss who tells everyone at the factory that it is mandatory that they lift boxes with proper bending mechanics is the same person who is yelling at the workers to unload 50 pallets as fast as they can.

The legislators and the courts have recognized that dichotomous relationship and written laws that protect the worker in that everyday situation. In a vacuum, everyone will remember to always use 3 points of contact and proper lifting mechanics, but in the real world when you are dealing with pressures, distractions and just the usual forgetfulness of the human mind, its unreasonable to put that burden solely on the shoulders of the worker. Therefore, if you are working and hopping back into your truck and for some reason, either your distracted or in a hurry or basically whatever as long as it isn't illegal, you forget to use 3 points of contact and you injure yourself, it is 100% compensable.

This is actually a very non controversial area of the law. You may get crap from a low level boss about how you didn't follow proper safety protocol, but once it gets to my level no one would ever attempt to use "he didn't use 3 points of contact" as a defense to a workers comp claim.

This issue actually hits close to home as I recently settled a case for a client who was a truck driver in this very scenario. She was getting back into truck cab, didn't use 3 points of contact, fell back onto pavement and hit her head and neck. Ended up having neck surgery and a really bad concussion. This happened in 2012 and she is still having concussion symptoms. Case was accepted right away, never had a fight from the insurance company regarding her and the 3 point of contact. In the end, she can never do that job again and the insurance company had to train her and find her new employment at a much lower pay rate. Finally settled a few months ago for $337,000 based on the wage differential between her old job as a truck driver and her limited income for the rest of her life based on her permanent work restrictions.

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Yes. Its just like any other injury. If it was caused by an incident at work. I have a lot of PTSD cases with CTA bus drivers. Had one guy who's been robbed twice, once at gun point and once with a knife where he was slashed. Had another driver who got PTSD from witnessing a man commit suicide by jumping in front of her bus.

THat said, you can't claim PTSD from normal workplace stress.

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I don't care. You need to get 1 of the other 2 to sign off on it too.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

It's all a red herring to help with CBA negotiations. Even with max benefits for wage differentials, settlements usually max out in the $400,000 range. Permanent total disability settlements usually max out maybe a couple hundred thousand above that. So, its not like were talking about a ton of money for a pro athlete. The reason 99% of pro athletes never file work comp claims is because its not worth the time or hassle to them for the eventual financial benefit.

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Only if you can get Mangino back posting Frank.

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Shakes I have a question regarding my girlfriend. She's an EMT and hurt her back lifting some 300 pound Type 2 diabetic last night. She's laid up today in pain, but terrified of being fired by her shitty boss. They've had disagreements in the past. I told her she needs to report it to work and go to the ER. I've shown her the Illinois Workers Compensation handbook. She's worried she won't be reimbursed for the ER visit or if the provider says you can't work for three days she won't get paid for those three days.

She's scared of the unknown and frankly, I'm at my witts end. Can you help with any of this? Should I pm you? Call your law office? If so do you work off retainer or contingency? Thanks for the free advice in the OP either way. It really helped me at least get my girlfriend started.

The military made me very see problem solve problem, so dealing with a girlfriend who won't help herself has been killing my patience. I just want to tell her to start the process or shut the fuck up and stop talking to me about it. Geez, I sound like a fucking prick when I say it like that.

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