Top 5 Problems With Handling Your Own Workers' Comp Claim
When you get hurt at work, oftentimes you'll get drawn into the workers' compensation system automatically. Because it can be automatic, going to through the comp process without a lawyer just seems to happen naturally. Whether you decide to do it without a lawyer or whether you simply find yourself in the process automatically, here are the top five problems you may encounter without a lawyer.
- You don't get the medical care you need. When you get hurt at work and your employer's workers' compensation insurance carrier gets involved, they choose which doctor to send you to. They also authorize the medical care you receive. This often leads to corners getting cut in your medical treatment.
- Your disability payments are too low. If the doctor your employer sends you to makes you take off work for a while, your employer has to pay you disability payments until you go back to work. There is a formula that is supposed to be used when calculating this amount that is often misunderstood or misused, resulting in disability payments that are too low.
- You get too little or no payment for mileage. If you employer send you to a doctor who is far away, they are required to pay your mileage to and from the doctor. Again, the comp statutes set forth a specific way to calculate these payments. This is often not followed.
- Your disability or mileage payments are delayed. Although the comp statutes do not specify a timeframe for payments, comp insurance companies often delay these payments unreasonably.
- The lump sum settlement at the end is too low. Workers' compensation insurance companies will often claim that you should not get much money at the end of your claim because you were not that hurt. They rely on their own paid doctor's assessment of your disability to short change you.
If you encounter any of these problems when handling your own workers' comp claim, you may want to speak with a Kansas City personal injury attorney from Meyerkord, Russell & Hergott.