On behalf of The North Shore Injury Lawyer posted in Workers’ Compensationon Thursday, July 12, 2018.
Workers’ compensation is supposed to be pretty much“lawyer-free.”At least, that’s the way they’re supposed to work. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen that way—leaving surprised workers scrambling for legal help when the process of getting the benefits they’re due turns out to be far more convoluted than expected.
Why the problems? Why do so many injured workers end up seeking legal assistance? Are they just milking the system? Not at all! There are some really good reasons that injured employees turn to attorneys for help(andnone of them paint a pretty picture of the workers’ comp industry as a whole):
Adjusters don’t contact injury victims
When you’re injured and you’re out of work, the last thing that you can do is sit around waiting for a phone call that never comes. You need treatment. You need to get benefits started so your bills can get paid. Yet, only about 15 percent of claims adjusters manage to get a phone call out to the injured workers on their lists within 30 days!
Employers shut out their injured workers
Many employers close off communication with their injured employees because they’ve been conditioned to expect a lawsuit. In reality, the lack of interaction may be what drives many injured employees to that step. When an employee is forced to work through the byzantine rules of the insurance system without a guide or support, everyone suffers.
Adjusters are handling too many cases at once.
Industry experts say that an adjuster’s maximum workload is 120 cases at a time. Many are struggling under loads that have 30 or more additional cases. That’s too many for any one person to handle appropriately—and victims are the ones getting lost in the shuffle. Sometimes the only way an injured worker can actually get the attention of a harried claims adjuster is to go through an attorney.
Given the problems faced by the workers’ comp system as a whole, it’s hardly a surprise that 14 percent of injured workers are unhappy with the service they receive. That’s why you shouldn’t feel badly about contacting an attorney for help with your workers’ compensation claim—it may really be necessary just to get your case moving.
