Workers’ compensation claims can be complicated and challenging to navigate, especially when it comes to determining the outcome of a case. As an injured worker, it can be frustrating to wait for a decision from the workers’ comp adjuster on whether your claim will be accepted or denied. However, certain factors can give adjusters a good indication that a claim will likely be successful. In this blog post, we’ll explore seven powerful things that let a workers’ comp adjuster know they’ll probably win. From medical evidence to timely reporting of injuries, understanding these key factors can help you make a stronger case and increase your chances of receiving the compensation you deserve.
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Injured Workers without Attorneys
This is almost a no-brainer. The Workers’ Compensation Act is so complicated and so full of loopholes that it takes a serious professional to know it all. So when seasoned adjusters go up against injured workers without an attorney at their side, it’s almost a guaranteed cheap settlement for the adjuster. And saving money for the insurance company is Job #1 for the adjuster. For a better idea of what workers’ compensation entails, go here.
How Oxner + Permar works to your advantage: Whether it’s getting reimbursements for your mileage; making sure relevant personnel included your overtime, bonuses, or per diems in your average weekly wage; or demanding the workers’ compensation insurance company pay for your yard care or housecleaning if you cannot do it, we never let an adjuster cheap out on your case.
Injured Workers With Attorneys Who Aren’t Aggressive
Even better than an unrepresented injured worker is one with an attorney who doesn’t do anything. Most of their clients don’t realize how easy it is to switch to an attorney who’s going to get things done. If the attorney is too slow-moving to even return phone calls or meet face-to-face with clients, he’ll never get the adjuster to back down.
How Oxner + Permar works to your advantage: We are known for being aggressive. Our workers’ compensation attorneys take more cases to hearings than any other – and that reputation pays off even for those whose cases doesn’t need a hearing. Adjusters know they’ll never get rid of us quickly or cheaply.
Knowing an Injured Worker Needs Weekly Checks
Workers’ Compensation adjusters know the Industrial Commission lets them withhold checks for no good reason. They can do this for three weeks at a time and as often as they like if an attorney doesn’t intervene. If an adjuster can do this a few times, the injured workers will be desperate to settle – usually for the first or second offer.
How Oxner + Permar works to your advantage: We move quickly to obtain orders from the Industrial Commission requiring timely payment to you. We’ve even filed motions for workers’ compensation adjusters to be held in contempt if they continue playing games with your checks. The result is that most adjusters have learned not to bother our clients.
Doctors Who Will Return You to Work Without Restrictions
Experienced adjusters know this is a golden opportunity for them to cut your claim’s value immediately. So they hand-pick the doctors in advance to increase the chances this could happen to you. Your worker’s comp doctor can release you when you’re not ready to return to work. In most cases, the Industrial Commission will let the insurance company adjuster cut off your weekly workers’ compensation checks with little advance notice unless you act fast to prevent it.
How Oxner + Permar works to your advantage: We’ve developed a system for combating this. As soon as one of these company doctors attempts to release you without restriction, we file a series of legal documents. This requires the workers’ compensation insurance adjuster to hire an attorney, provide you with just medical care, and ultimately stall any attempt to cut your checks off.
The Workers’ Comp Adjuster Myth that Attorneys Will Take Most of Your Settlement
This myth is spread by adjusters, doctors, and rehabilitation professionals, but it’s often far from the truth. The adjusters’ research group found that injured workers with attorneys average settlements that are 2.7 times greater than those without a lawyer. Workers’ Compensation Adjusters know that attorneys shouldn’t charge more than 25%, so even after paying a fee, the average injured worker will get twice as much having an attorney as they would otherwise.
How Oxner + Permar works to your advantage: We believe legal help should limit fees to 25%. We think fees should be paid only when we win or negotiate something for you. And we don’t take cases where you’ll not come ahead after paying a fee.
Employers Who Offer Light Duty
The adjuster wants to get you off her payroll and back onto the company payroll as quickly as possible. What happens after that isn’t her business. If your employer can find a reason to fire you, you’ll be on no one’s payroll. Best yet, for the adjuster anyway, is that in most situations, she won’t have to put the injured ex-worker back onto weekly checks.
How Oxner + Permar works to your advantage: Just as with full-duty return to work notes, we have a system in place which immediately smothers the adjuster and the employer with legal paperwork to make sure that any proposed light duty job is legal, is beneficial to you, and does not jeopardize your claim. This is a highly complex area of the law, and it is one where we’ve seen hundreds of injured workers have their claims go down the drain because tough lawyers did not protect them.
Rehabilitation Nurses and Vocational Rehab Counselors Who Break the Rules.
Adjusters hire these Rehabilitation Professionals to help keep costs down. But the RPs charge as much as $85.00 per hour. How does that save the adjuster money? All too often, it’s because the RPs are violating the Industrial Commission’s Rehab Rules. And they do it in a way that almost always guarantees a win for the adjuster.
How Oxner + Permar works to your advantage: RPs have a begrudging respect for us. Many will privately concede that we make them tow a line that few other lawyers do. We keep databases of rehab professionals from different files and note their strengths, weaknesses, and areas we’ve had to back them down. We won’t go into dealings with these people without being fully prepared, and we don’t let our clients do so, either.
