If you are interested in hiring an attorney for workers compensation in El Dorado County and Placer County, it’s important to understand your rights. Every state has workers’ compensation laws designed to assist employees dealing with work-related injuries. This article covers the law in California
While specific workers’ comp laws and systems vary from state to state, there are general principles applicable to them all. Here are some facts that you should know about workers’ compensation.
Facts About Workers’ Compensation
#1. Not every employer is required to have workers compensation insurance.
ALL California employers MUST provide Workers’ Compensation benefits to employees injured on the job. It is the law that ALL employers carry workers’ compensation insurance with a few exceptions: Some employers can apply to the State to be exempt from the requirement to carry Workers’ Compensation insurance if they can show they have enough money and resources to cover payment of workers’ comp benefits even without insurance. Also, most governmental entities are exempt from having to carry insurance. (They can just borrow or tax as needed to pay necessary comp benefits.)
In any case, if you’ve experienced an injury and are interested in workers compensation in Placer or El Dorado County, it is in your best interest to speak with a qualified California workers’ comp attorney to better understand your rights.
IF your employer is not exempt from the obligation to carry insurance and does not provide you with full comp benefits when injured, they can be charged with a crime, and the State may be ordered to pay you all comp benefits with the right to collect full reimbursement from your uninsured employer. There are other legal actions that an injured worker can also take against an uninsured employer in order to recover benefits and damages.
#2. You do not have to prove an employer did something wrong or was at fault.
In normal personal injury situations, it is your responsibility to prove fault for someone else causing your injury. However, to make it easier for workers to receive medical treatment and limited compensation for work injuries, workers’ compensation laws exclude proving fault.
Instead, it is a worker’s responsibility to simply prove he or she was injured while employed at work. In the event the employer was negligent, there could be other legal options. Speaking with your Placer or El Dorado County workers compensation attorney as soon as possible will be the best way to understand the options available to you.
#3. You must go to the medical provider designated by your employer.
It may seem unfair, but unless your employer provides health insurance and you have designated a doctor to provide you care before you are injured, your employer or their workers’ compensation insurance provider designates the medical provider (doctor, hospital, etc.) that you must visit for a work injury. Refusal to do so may result in you losing your workers’ compensation claim. That is, you can obtain treatment if necessary outside the employer’s or carrier’s network, but medical evidence obtained outside the employer’s comp system will, without special evaluations, not be sufficient evidence to support a legal action for benefits, including disability payments or further medical care.
#4. In California, workers’ compensation attorney fees are based on a contingency fee.
California law does not allow worker’s compensation lawyers to charge clients a flat or hourly fee to handle a workers’ comp case. Instead, workers compensation lawyers are required to work on a contingency fee basis, which means that the lawyer is paid a percentage of the amount he or she recovers for their client.
In the event an injured worker does not receive any workers’ comp benefits, the lawyer doesn’t receive payment. For this reason, it’s important to hire a workers compensation attorney in Placer or El Dorado County that has proven experience and success representing cases similar to your own.
Find a Workers Compensation Attorney in El Dorado County
If you’re looking for an attorney to represent you in a case regarding workers compensation in Placer or El Dorado County, don’t settle for just anyone. There are specific attributes characteristic of experienced California workers’ comp lawyers who understand how to navigate the complexities of the legal system successfully.
The workers’ compensation attorneys at Gold Country Workers Comp Center have several decades of experience with representing the rights of injured workers. It is our shared commitment to do everything possible to secure the maximum amount of benefits our clients are entitled to.
Remember, EARLY INTERVENTION WORKS! The sooner you speak with a workers comp lawyer, the better your chances are for receiving a successful resolution. Contact our El Dorado County workers comp attorney at 530-362-7188 to schedule a free case consultation and begin working on receiving the benefits you deserve.
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