Workers’ Comp

If you are injured at work or on the job, you are probably entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, including medical treatment, compensation for lost wages, and compensation for any permanent disability. But when it comes to medical treatment, you may have questions that don’t have obvious answers, such as:   What is a workers’ compensation…

Every year, thousands of injured workers wrongfully choose to resolve their workers’ compensation claim through the Benefits Review Conference (BRC) procedure, leaving huge sums of money to which they would otherwise be entitled unpaid. Insurance adjusters frequently make an offer to settle a workers’ compensation claim suggesting that the parties go through the BRC procedure…

Imagine this. You finally obtain a worker’s compensation award or are negotiating a settlement and you learn that someone else has a claim to your funds or that someone else must be paid from them. What? It’s a nasty little creature called subrogation. And there’s no avoiding it. But those who aren’t aware of it…

We are frequently asked whether an employer can require an employee out on workers’ comp disability to use leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). It’s a legitimate question but one with limited real application. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave…

Huntsville has overtaken Birmingham as Alabama’s largest city, with a population of 215,006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Huntsville’s population grew by 2.1 percent – or close to 6,000 people – between 2019 and 2020. The Huntsville metropolitan area grew by another 4,000 people. That’s one of the fastest growth rates in the country,…

COVID-19 has been devastating on so many levels. Over four million are dead worldwide. Businesses have shuttered. Jobs have been eliminated. Our economy has stumbled and strained to adjust to new demands. The worldwide supply chains have been disrupted. And the damaging impact and effects continue. New variants of the virus have been identified and…

Summer is always a time for increased work-related injuries. More people are generally employed during the summer, especially in industries prone to accidents, such as construction and others involving potentially hazardous outdoor activities. With the restrictions related to COVID effectively lifted, most people are not just back at work but their pent-up demand for goods,…

A big question on the minds of many is whether COVID-related illnesses, symptoms, and complications are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. Though we have been wrestling with COVID-19 for well over a year now, the answer remains less than clear. Workers’ compensation derives from state statutory schemes for most employees. In other words, each state…

When it comes to legal documents, many have the adage, “It’s not worth the paper it’s printed on.” Nothing could be further from the truth. While there may have been a time when the law was less developed and courts were more liberal in their interpretation of it and more consumer-centric, the law could not…

While a lot has changed as a result of COVID-19, how to respond to on-the-job injuries has not. While every case is, to a certain extent, different, there are certain basics that almost always apply. 1.  Tell your employer.  If you are injured on the job or think that you are, tell your employer. There…