It is easy to come to the feeling that when it comes to you and your employer that your employer is the one with all the power. Unfortunately, this is more or less true. After all, it is they who set your schedule, dictate your breaks, and hold your financial future in their hands. Perhaps some of the most colorful aspect of our nation’s history has involved worker’s efforts to claw back some of the power to themselves. Long a bane of the American worker, worksite injuries and deaths had plagued the working class with its ongoing potential for financial destitution in the wake of such accidents.
We tend to consign these thoughts to grainy images of children laboring in coal mines, or anecdotal stories of clumsy workers falling to their deaths whilst plying their trade in the building of the nation’s skyscrapers, bridges, and dams.
Sadly however, work place injuries still plague the modern workforce, as do unfair labor practices in general, so there is a great deal that a workers’ compensation lawyer can do to improve your working life. Let us look at some of the things a competent workers’ compensation attorney can do to help you and your family.
Expected Benefits of Worker’s Compensation Laws in Georgia
Worker’s compensation laws have been evolved and tweaked over the years. Under current regulations, the following facts represent the current state of worker’s compensation laws:
- Each state regulates and administers its own compensation program.
- Benefits are provided to injured workers without regards to fault, which also limits employer liability.
- When calculating benefits, agencies look at future wages lost to a permanent disability.
- Not all occupational injuries are eligible for worker’s compensation.
Most importantly, these laws make it illegal to fire a worker as retaliation for filing a valid claim. That being said however, an employee can be let loose for reasons other than for filing a claim. As an example, should an employee be medically released for light duty, but fail to accept the assignment could be subject to termination.
Specific to the Peach State, Georgia law mandates that employers purchase workers’ comp insurance coverage and those employing three or more workers are required to ensure that both their full-time and part-time employees all have the correct compensation coverage. Further, it is a crime for an employer to not carry workers’ compensation coverage in Georgia.
What Can a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Help You With?
As one might imagine, accessing a program such as workers’ compensation benefits requires a myriad of forms and hurdles to achieve those benefits. Additionally, you may have questions regarding how best to proceed, and what to do following a work related injury. When it comes time to file workers’ comp claims, having a knowledgeable and experienced legal team on your side might prove critical to your success.
In addition to ensuring that all of your legal rights are respected and protected, a workers’ comp lawyer can make sure that the array of forms you need to fill out have been successfully completed while following established timelines and procedures.
Moreover, an attorney will represent your interests at hearings, communicate with the insurer while investigating your case and marshaling the evidence to prove your claim. Once armed with this information and evidence, your workers’ comp attorney will negotiate a fair settlement, or prepare your case for a hearing should the claim go to trial.
As always, when something important is going on in your life you will want to take advantage of every conceivable factor that will benefit your cause, and having an attorney representing your workers’ comp claim is one of the biggest advantages that you can hope to have in your corner.
Four Categories of Benefit Packages for Georgia Workers
There are four categories of benefit packages available to injured workers designed to meet the level of injury sustained and the length of time that the injury will keep them off the job. The four categories include:
Temporary Total Disability Benefits (TTD)—allows for payment to injured employees for the time they are out of work, reach your maximum expected medical improvement, or run through the maximum allowable weeks of benefits.
Temporary Partial Disability Benefits (TPD)—is designed for workers are released back to work for “light” duty for a specific period of time. The amount paid is the difference between the normal pay of the TTD and the amount paid for the modified work.
Permanent Partial Disability Benefits (PPD)—represents a more serious injury resulting in a permanent impairment, such as the loss of a limb, and the resultant payment will correlate with the severity of the injury.
Permanent Total Disability Benefits (PTD)—results when the injury sustained leaves the worker permanently disabled and unable to ever return to work. Oftentimes, the dollar amount is capped with the Social Security Administration’s taking on the support with SSDI.
Getting injured on the job can be a traumatic experience, but not receiving the support you need and deserve in such a situation is untenable. Thanks to the protections afforded by Georgia’ Workman Compensation program you have a level of support when you most need it after a work related injury. If you have any concerns or questions regarding your workplace injury, you should seek legal advice to better understand your rights.
Contact the Legal Team at The Mann Law Firm
Experts in workman compensation claims, our team here at The Mann Law Firm has been helping injured workers receive their just compensation in the event of an accident for nearly four decades. We have a deep understanding regarding the ins-and-outs of filing a successful workman’s compensation claim, and we are the Georgia workers’ comp attorney that you can rely on for prompt, vigorous legal action on your behalf.
