Los Angeles Workers’ Compensation Attorneys

What To Do After A Workplace Accident

The first thing you should do after any workplace accident is to get medical attention. With serious accidents, this usually means calling an ambulance to the scene. Let emergency medical workers evaluate you, even if you don’t think you need to go to the hospital in an ambulance. Your injuries could be more severe than you know. These workers are also trained in how to transport injury victims safely to avoid exacerbating their injuries.

If you don’t go to the hospital in an ambulance, it is still important to see a doctor as soon as possible. It is not possible to know how serious your injuries are without testing and medical imaging. Only a qualified medical professional can determine what medical treatment you need. If you fail to get medical attention right away, you could make your injuries worse. Such delays could also weaken your claim, such as by implying that your injuries were not serious enough to warrant urgent medical care.

Once your immediate medical needs have been addressed, it is important to notify your employer of the accident as soon as possible. Even if your manager or boss was present at the accident, you still need to be sure that the company is aware of the injury and that a claim is opened with their workers’ compensation carrier. Claims that are not promptly reported to the carrier might be denied. Our Los Angeles workers’ compensation attorneys at Arash Law may be able to help you file the claim properly and advocate against unfair denials if necessary.

Losses That Are Covered Under Workers’ Compensation Policies

Workers’ compensation policies cover many of the most basic losses associated with workplace injury. However, they do not cover all the same losses as a liability policy (such as auto insurance). It is important to understand what is and isn’t covered under a workers’ compensation policy. Injured workers may be entitled to pursue compensation for:

• All medical bills related to the accident.
• A set percent of lost wages (based on pre-accident earnings).
• Short-term or long-term disability benefits for injuries that take longer to heal.

Here are some critical losses that are not compensated by a workers’ compensation policy:

• Pain and suffering.
• All lost wages.
• Future lost earnings beyond disability benefits.
• The value of future employment benefits (such as employer contributions to health insurance premiums or retirement accounts).

There is a reason that workers’ compensation policies do not offer full coverage. They are not liability policies. This fact means that an injured worker does not have to prove that the employer was at fault, but only that the injury occurred within the scope and course of employment.

Because of this, benefits are more easily accessible to injured workers. The trade-off is that these benefits are limited. However, you may have other options for seeking losses not covered by workers’ compensation.

Other Insurance Policies That Might Cover Your Injuries

Accidents may involve several different defendants who are at fault. In these cases, there could be multiple insurance policies with coverage that applies to the same accident. For example, imagine a delivery driver is struck by a negligent driver while making deliveries in a work vehicle.

The accident happened on the job, so the injured worker may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. However, the negligent driver’s auto insurance policy might also apply to the accident. Under this auto insurance policy, liability coverage can potentially extend to all the delivery driver’s losses, including pain and suffering, as well as any past and future lost wages.

Take another example: imagine that the delivery driver was given a truck with faulty brakes. The accident was caused by a defective vehicle. Because of this, the truck manufacturer can be at fault due to the laws of product liability.

Again, the driver may also be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, but they may also have an eligible claim against the truck manufacturer. The product liability claim may require the manufacturer to pay for pain and suffering, all lost wages, and future losses associated with the driver’s injuries.

When there are multiple insurance policies available, there is sometimes an overlap in coverage. For example, your workers’ compensation claim might pay for medical bills that are later recovered in a personal injury suit against a negligent driver. In this case, the workers’ compensation carrier might file a lien against the car accident claim to avoid any “double-dipping.”

Health insurance companies can potentially have the same right to reimbursement, but only if they pay for bills that are later actually recovered in a personal injury lawsuit. Medicare and Medicaid programs are especially diligent about finding personal injury claims and seeking reimbursement.

These issues can get complicated, but our experienced workers’ compensation lawyers are skilled at handling rights to reimbursement. Your LA workers’ compensation attorney will work to help only those insurance companies that may have a right to reimbursement get reimbursed for the appropriate amounts.