Atlanta Workers’ Compensation Lawyer

State law demands that employers with employees must have a workers’ compensation insurance policy. This coverage acts like any other insurance coverage where premium payments get made to ensure against workplace injury costs. Should an accident occur, the hurt worker notifies their supervisor to get the claims process started to cover any associated costs to the injury.

Your employer has a legal duty to provide copies of paperwork or other material relevant to your injury claim. It is illegal for them to take retribution against you in any form, whether by demoting you to a lesser-paying position or firing you. The whole point of workers’ compensation insurance is to ensure that any injuries you suffer while performing a job will get reimbursed for the losses you suffer. It does not matter if your case causes their premiums to become more expensive; they have to show good faith and process your claim.

Cobb County and other regional workers who need compensation after getting hurt on the job have several rights under state workers’ comp laws, including:

It’s important to remember that even though your employer has insurance to cover your work-related injury, they will not be looking out for your best interests when processing your claim. Workers’ compensation insurers want to minimize how much they have to pay out on any injury case they receive, even if it is to your detriment. Manipulative tactics like denying a valid claim or deflecting blame on to you for your injuries are commonplace.

Employee workers’ compensation claims will have their injuries assessed to determine which of the below benefit types it falls under:

• Temporary partial disability (TPD)
• Temporary total disability (TTD)
• Partial permanent disability (PPD)
• Permanent disability (PD)

Temporary Total Disability (TTD)

These indemnity benefits are for employees who sustained injuries at work, which are temporary but totally disabling in nature. This means that you cannot work at all, but your doctor expects you to recover over time.

Temporary Partial Disability (TPD)

This injury classification refers to workplace injuries that temporarily diminish an employee’s ability to work, but not completely disable them. Often, work restrictions are possible to enable you to return to work in a partial capacity.

Both temporary benefits help total and partially disabled employees recover their lost wages while recovering from their injuries.

Permanent Disability (PD)

These are benefits for employees who are hurt so severely that they will have permanent disabilities resulting from their workplace accident and cannot return to work.

Partial Permanent Disability (PPD)

Employees who can return to work, but only in reduced capacity due to partial permanent disabilities, qualify for this benefit.

As you can see, every workers’ compensation case is unique, and benefits rely heavily on the severity of injury they suffered in the course of their work and the circumstances leading up to their getting hurt.

The answer is hard to predict because your treating physician is responsible for recommending the amount of time it will take you to recover. Usually, if you can’t work for more than seven days, you should be able to secure workers’ compensation benefits. Typically, your first check will arrive approximately 21 days after your first day of missed work, and if you missed more than three weeks, you will also get benefits for that first week you had to miss, as well.

It’s important to note that Georgia lawmakers capped workers’ compensation benefits for injuries that happened on or after July 1, 2022. Currently, you can only receive up to two-thirds of your normal weekly wages, which have a cap of $725 per week maximum. This benefit lasts for up to 400 weeks for those who cannot work during their recovery time.

If you can return to work but can’t perform your usual duties, or if you can only perform work in a lower-paying job role, you may only receive partial benefits. This process was also affected by the 2022 law changes, and now one can only receive a partial benefit of $483 per week or less for a maximum of 350 weeks

Fortunately, additional provisions help accommodate situations with specific circumstances, such as amputation, disfigurement, and death. Families who lost a loved one in a workplace accident may qualify to receive up to $725/week. Widowed spouses without children have a cap of $270,000 total benefit.

Workers’ compensation in Atlanta is designed to compensate for economic damages. These are losses that have a clear dollar amount assigned to them, like a medical bill. Pain and suffering are considered non-economical and do not qualify. There is little doubt that your injuries are causing you a significant amount of pain. If you are suffering from this experience, this is where personal injury law comes into play.

A personal injury claim can help you recover for damages that workers’ comp doesn’t cover, including pain and suffering. This claim type is only permitted in third-party liability circumstances and is often the best strategy if that third-party contributed to your injuries while working. For example, you could have been involved in a car accident while delivering a product to a customer. You could sue the liable driver for their negligence that is now causing your anguish.

The point is that you have options outside of your workers’ compensation case to recover additional damages if necessary. This requires you to work with an attorney who has a proven track record of successfully litigating personal injury law. The Law Offices of Darwin F. Johnson is such a practice; with over 30 years of combined experience helping workers receive the compensation they need to move forward with their lives.

Having your workers’ comp claim come back denied can be disheartening. This can occur for any number of underlying reasons. Though, many times the insurer is trying to save money. By placing the burden for appeals and proof back on you, the injured, the insurer hopes to win through obfuscation. Maybe you got hurt on a construction site, but no one witnessed it happen. Adjusters often deny these claims without a second thought and leave it on you to appeal and provide the evidence.

Or, maybe you failed the required drug test. There are specific rules for when these tests get taken after an employee gets injured, otherwise, they are invalid. The type of drug you took could also impact how these tests influence your claim. A skilled workers’ compensation attorney knows how to attack these situations and not let insurers take the easy way out.

Generally, you cannot file a lawsuit against your employer in a workers’ compensation claim. You may be able to sue a third party for their negligence in the matter.

As your Atlanta workers’ compensation attorney, we’ll help you seek maximum compensation for your injuries if a third party’s negligence led to your injuries.