Report your accident right away. Insist on an accident-report. Your Employer will generally have you seen at a walk-in clinic. Not just...

Some on-the-job accidents involve two claims. For example, if you are involved in an on-the-job car accident, you may have two claims. You have a workers’ compensation claim and you may also sue the other driver if the accident was not your fault (you still qualify for a workers’ compensation claim even if the auto accident was your fault). The claim against the other driver or other person is called a Third-Party Claim. The workers’ compensation insurance company will have t

For most companies, workers’ compensation insurance is the most expensive insurance they have. Any claim will increase their insurance premium. They may be reluctant to report your accident. They may offer to pay out-of-pocket for your medical care. Don’t do it! Or, at least talk to an experienced workers’ compensation attorney first. I have a database of every employer in Louisiana and their workers’ compensation insurance company. Contact me and I can report your claim dire

When you are hired or sometimes as part of the application process, you will be asked to fill-out a medical questionnaire. It generally contains boxes you check-off yes or no. Read it! Do not simply check off “no” for each question. Louisiana has a Second Injury Fund. That is a fund that reimburses insurance companies when an Employer hires a worker who was previously injured and he or she then re-injures himself (same body part). This is to promote the hiring of people with

No. You only go to court when a dispute arises, such as when the insurance company denies your claim, denies treatment requested by your doctor, or some other issue. If you make a workers’ compensation claim and the Insurance Company accepts your claim, they will begin paying you if your doctor says you can’t work and they will pay your medical bills. If everything goes well, there is no need to go to court. You only go to court when a dispute arises. The Court can then decid

Often, a worker will injure himself and not report it hoping it gets better. Then, when the pain continues, he will report it the next day, or worse, the Monday following the Friday accident. The Employer or Insurance Company will often be skeptical. They will argue that you really got hurt at home or after work and are trying to get free medical care. Report your injury right away. Insist that your supervisor, “safety guy” or human resources do an accident report and ask for

When your doctor wants approval for a test, an office visit, surgery, physical therapy, etc., he will submit a written request to the Insurance Company on a Form 1010. The Insurance Company will forward that to their Utilization Review (UR) service provider. UR will review the request for testing, treatment, etc. to determine if medically necessary under the state’s Medical Treatment Guidelines (MTG). UR will then approve or deny the request. If the request is denied, you can

If you apply for Social Security Disability and later want to settle your workers’ compensation claim, Social Security will have to be involved and approve of the settlement. This is because Social Security Disability will qualify you for Medicare regardless of your age. Medicare will not pay for treatment related to your work-accident after you settle and they will only approve of a settlement that provides you sufficient funds to pay for future medical care related to your

There are no damages in a workers’ compensation claim. If you are in a car accident and it is not your fault, you can sue for personal injury damages, including pain, suffering, physical and mental stress, loss of quality of life, etc. However, there are no personal injury damages in a workers’ compensation claim. In a workers’ compensation claim, your employer or former employer and its workers’ compensation insurer owes you a check every week your doctor says you cannot wor

In workers’ compensation, the injured worker is entitled to choose his or her own treating physicians. Don’t let the walk-in clinic or emergency room staff or the company’s “safety guy” or human resources or the Adjuster tell you who to see for your injury. Some doctors choose to treat injured workers and some choose to work for the insurance companies. You won’t know what type of doctor you have until the insurance company starts to pressure him or her to release you to work

A Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) determines what physical demand level of work you are capable of doing. It must be ordered by your treating physician. In workers’ compensation, your old job is irrelevant. What matters is how much did you make at the time you were injured and are there jobs in your community paying at least 90% of that amount and within any physical demand limitations determined by the FCE. For example, if you were making $10 per hour and the FCE determ

In workers’ compensation, the injured workers get to choose of his or her own doctor. The insurance company doctor is referred to as a Second Medical Opinion (SMO) doctor. You are required to be seen by the SMO if the insurance company request you do so. However, they are limited to the types of treating physicians you have. If you have an orthopedist, they get one. If you have a pain management doctor, they get one. However, the SMO will generally only see you once. He or sh

In your workers’ compensation claim, you are saying you are unable to work due to your on-the-job accident and injury. If you apply for...

In workers’ compensation, the injured worker is entitled to a physician of his choosing in any field needed. That physician is called your treating physician or choice of physician. Likewise, the insurance company is entitled to their own physician or physicians. For example, if you have an orthopedist, they get an orthopedist. If your doctor and their doctor disagree, the Court can appoint an Independent Medical Examiner (IME). The IME doctor will review your records, examin

If your Employer has at least 50 employees working within 75 miles of each other and you worked for them for at least 1,250 hours in the year prior to your work-accident (an average of about 24 hours a week), you will likely qualify for Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protection. If FMLA applies, the Employer generally has to keep your job open for 90 days. After that, they can fire you even if you can’t work because of a work-related accident. My clients often cannot believe

There are no “pain and suffering” damages in a workers’ compensation claim. Pain and suffering damages is that money someone is owed merely because they were hurt and suffered pain. That does not exist in workers’ compensation. Clients often tell me, “They owe me for what this accident has done to my life.” Unfortunately, they do not in a workers’ compensation claim. The only thing they owe you is medical care and a weekly check if your doctor says you cannot work. Pain and s

If you are injured on-the-job, your Employer is entitled to have you drug tested. However, it is not necessarily the end of your claim if you test positive. The drug-use must have caused or contributed to the accident. The question is: Did the drugs in your system cause you to be less attentive, more-clumsy or somehow cause or contribute to your work-accident. However, that is not always the case. For example, if a board falls from above onto your head and you never saw it, d

Rusty Savoie grew up in Lafourche Parish. He graduated from South Lafourche High School in 1985 and Nicholls State University in 1989. He received his Masters in Business Administration and Law Degree from Loyola University in 1997. He has practiced law for over 25 years and exclusively represents injured workers. Rusty is the father of 4 and has been married to Lynette for over 28 years. He is a former Boy Scout leader and he and his family attend St. Anselm Catholic Church

When I started practicing many years ago, you knew if you were being surveilled. A car or van with tinted windows would park in front of your house. Now, everyone carries a camera in their phone and it is impossible to know if you are being surveilled. I advise my clients not to change their life just because they have a workers’ compensation claim. Go about your normal day. Just be honest. If in a recorded statement or deposition, you are asked what you do on an average day,

If you owe child support and the other parent gets a judgment against you, especially if they went through the state, there will likely be a child support line. Insurance companies will often check this or otherwise receive notice of this and will take child support from your weekly workers’ compensation check and from any settlement if your claim settles. If your claim is denied, I can write a letter to your lawyer, the other lawyer or the court to let them know you are not