Practice Areas

• Workers' Compensation
• Personal Injury
• Social Security Disability

Firm News

• When the injured worker returned to work he was immediately fired...
  
• Workers' Compensation: The IC ruled that the employer, who willingly paid the medical claim and workers comp for the employee's foot injury, must also pay for pain management because this injury aggravated the employee's pre-existing fibromyalgia and hypertension and was now considered a chronic condition. Although it is tough to win these claims we can usually do it if we the treating physician will agree that the pre-existing condition is worse now than it was and that this change is due to the worker's comp accident....
  
• Workers' Compensation: The Industrial Commission denied the employee's claim for temporary partial disability compensation. The Commission ruled that the reduction in wages that our client received was because of problems with the company's workload due to the economy. It was determined that he didn't receive less pay because of his injury or from the less-paying job within the company that he had to take because of the injury....
  
• Workers' Compensation: The NC Industrial Commission determined that the employer was required to pay our client's medical bills and also continue workers' compensation payments until our client could find a job with his limited physical capabilities. The employer was unable to find work for him at the company and he was fired, which was unacceptable, although it was explained by the employer as happening because of excessive absences....
  
• Workers' Compensation: The North Carolina Industrial Commission threatened to hold CNA in contempt of court because they refused to authorize the medical tests which would prove that the plaintiff was unable to do his job. This was a classic example of an adjuster getting an opinion from a reliable doctor and then refusing any other evaluation which could help the injured worker....
  
• Workers Compensation: The North Carolina Industrial Commission held that National Benefits Association had wrongfully denied this claim for more than a year...but only when the Industrial Commission finally heard all the evidence -- that the employer admitted that they knew the plaintiff was hurt, that they had sent him to a doctor but didn't follow his direction, and that there was no way our client could do his job with his severely-injured back....
  
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission says Liberty Mutual must provide yardcare and housecleaning to an injured brickmason....
  
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission rules that a restaurant dishwasher who slipped and fell, and was taken straight to an emergency room has proven that he was injured on the job....
  
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission finds that Diebold and Broadspire MUST pay weekly benefits even after they fired the injured worker from her "light duty" job....
  
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission rules against The Hartford Insurance Company and holds that a nurse who was still on her employer's property when she was hit by a car is within the course and scope of her employment and entitled to workers' compensation benefits....
  

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Library

Workers' Compensation

• Psssst! Who's that following you?
• NCIC Form 25T: Mileage Reimbursement form
• Form 28T: Notice of Termination of Compensation by Reason of Trial Return to Work
• Form 33R: Response to Request that Claim Be Assigned for Hearing
• 10 Things Your Insurance Adjuster Won't Tell You (download)

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DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different and these verdicts and settlements, while accurate, do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case.

A Real-Life Example of an Adjuster Misusing Vocational Rehabilitation.

The Case: Before his accident, "Richard" was a skilled electrician. Unfortunately, one day while at work, he fell off a ladder rupturing a disk in his back. The road to recovery was a long one – first surgery, then physical therapy. His doctors even sent him to work conditioning (a form of therapy designed to simulate the work environment). At the conclusion of his treatment, he underwent a functional capacities examination. The examination revealed that Richard had permanent physical restrictions that prevented him from being an electrician.

After this happened, Richard's employer informed him that they had no job available within his restrictions. Richard was very concerned. He could no longer do job which he had knowledge and experience doing. He was unsure about his future. When the workers' comp vocational rehab profession contacted him initially, he was thrilled. He had been looking for work on his own but had had no luck. He thought that maybe the vocational rehab professional would send him back to school to learn a new trade in a less physical field. He was very disappointed to learn that was not the case.

From the beginning, the vocational rehab professional provided Richard with a handful of menial job leads. Most of the jobs she suggested were outside of his restrictions. Many of the jobs were miles away from his home. One thing all of the jobs lead had in common, they paid significantly less than his old job as an electrician.

In addition to relying on the voc rehab professional's leads, Richard was instructed to look for additional leads on his own. Each week, he would search the classifieds and go down to the local EEOC office search for job postings. Unfortunately, neither he nor the voc expert could find him a job.

Weeks turned into months, and months became a year. Richard noticed that the voc rehab professional seemed to become increasingly frustrated. She started accusing him of not fully cooperating with voc rehab. Their weekly meetings became very uncomfortable. Her monthly reports started including comments about him failing to follow instructions. She urged Richard not to mention his back injury when applied for work. He began to feel that she wanted him to be less than honest with prospective employers. The tensions grew each week. Before too long, the voc rehab professional accused him of failing to look for work on his own. That's when Richard learned firsthand that the voc rehab professional's reports had an impact on his case.

The workers' compensation carrier, based on the voc rehab professional's account, threatened to terminate Richard's weekly benefits for failure to cooperate. Had they have been successful, Richard could have gone months without benefits waiting for a hearing to prove that he had been cooperative.

What we did: We informed Richard from day one the perils of not cooperating with vocational rehabilitation. When he was released to work by his doctors, we told him to keep a journal of what potential employers he contacted and whether he would be appropriate for such jobs. Fortunately, this information allowed us to counter the false claims by the voc rehab professional. Without it, it is likely that the carrier would have filed for motion to terminate benefits.

This claim settled recently at mediation. Richard is considering going into business for himself in a less physical capacity using his settlement proceeds as start-up money.