Maison Law represents brain and head injury victims in San Jose. This includes injured workers hurt in unsafe workplaces who must rely on Workers’ Compensation to pay hospital bills and support them while they can’t work. Victims should contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation. It’s a no-risk opportunity to find out what your case may be worth and how to hold an at-fault party fully responsible.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Suffering a Brain Injury on the Job?
The most important reason you’d want a lawyer to handle your Workers’ Compensation claim is the real possibility a lawyer could earn you much more in support than you could earn on your own. It’s also beneficial to have strong legal representation when your employer tries to deny responsibility for your injury. If you suffered a serious injury at work and lose more than a few days of work, it can pay to discuss your options with an attorney.
Higher medical expenses that usually come along with head trauma will usually leave you fighting your employer’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Provider just to get basic support. A skilled San Jose Workers’ Compensation Lawyer secures the evidence needed to hold employers accountable. Your lawyer also presents your case to Workers’ Compensation administrators and makes sure they get the facts in order to make a fair decision in your case. Your lawyer then negotiates for the most financial support possible.
Talk to a lawyer if you feel you aren’t being treated fairly by your employer after an injury. Talk to a lawyer if you believe Workers’ Compensation won’t provide enough to pay all of your hospital expenses and cost-of-living expenses while you can’t work.
The guidebook provided by The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) explains a few other reasons you may want to trust your case to a lawyer.
Common Head and Brain Injuries at Work
Bruises and broken bones can heal, but the road to recovery after a head injury can be much longer and more complicated. Victims can be unable to work for weeks or months. They may also suffer permanent brain damage that leaves them needing to seek a whole new career or leaves them unable to ever work again.
Employees can face head trauma risks in the most dangerous jobs like on a construction site or on a farm. Truck drivers can strike their heads on a steering wheel or be sent through glass to suffer a major brain injury. Workers at any office might take a blow to the head caused by an overhead hazard or a fall hazard.
Doctors at Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Room treat workplace accident victims for these and other head injuries:
- Concussions
- Diffuse Axonal Injuries (DAI)
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)
- Brain bleeds (hematomas)
- Contusions or bruises
- Swelling of the brain (edemas)
- Skull fractures
A TBI can include a mild to severe concussion. Victims report symptoms such as memory loss, seizures, and a loss of bowel and bladder control.
Victims and their families may be asked to cover the bills for multiple surgeries and physical therapy sessions. These costs easily rise into the tens of thousands of dollars and the expense should never be left to the victim to face alone.
Winning Compensation for Workplace Accident Victims with Head Injuries
Your attorney takes action against employers and the state when they don’t want to provide the compensation you’ll need to fully rebuild your life and career.
Your lawyer submits a workers comp claim. It must include every medical bill you have now and those anticipated for the care expected to be needed in the future.
Your attorney would be negotiating for the maximum in support so that you could pay all of the medical bills that had piled up since the accident. The money needed to cover any care in the future with a long-term or permanent injury would also have to be included.
The DIR Injured Worker’s Handbook goes over all the different types of support available through a claim. This is a look at some of the support victims could receive:
- Medical Care. Paid for by your employer, to help you recover from an injury or illness caused by work. This includes doctor visits and other treatment services, tests, medicines, equipment, and travel costs reasonably necessary to treat your injury.
- Temporary Disability Benefits. Payments if you lose wages because your injury prevents you from doing your usual job while recovering.
- Permanent Disability Benefits. Payments if you don’t recover completely and your injury causes a permanent loss of physical or mental function that a doctor can measure.
- Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit. A voucher to help pay for retraining or skill enhancement, including the cost of vocational therapy for you. These benefits are available to those who are eligible to receive permanent disability benefits, your employer doesn’t offer you work, and you don’t return to work for your employer. This benefit is available for workers injured in 2004 or later. If your injury also occurred in 2013 or later and you received a Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit, you may also be eligible for an additional, one-time payment under the Return-to-Work Supplement Program.
In general, workers’ compensation doesn’t cover the physical pain and the emotional trauma victims of violent accidents must often cope with. Victims may deal with PTSD symptoms after a frightening collision or collapse accident in a warehouse. They may face chronic pain for years to come.
Your lawyer helps you decide if a lawsuit should be filed against an employer (including a state agency) to seek additional compensation for these very real hardships caused by a workplace injury. You and your lawyer may have to go beyond workers’ compensation to seek additional support for your mental health and to help seek additional support from an employer through a workplace injury lawsuit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can families receive Workers’ Comp benefits if a loved one dies due to a brain injury suffered at work?
Yes, in certain instances. Workers’ compensation provides death benefits to families left behind, but an employer could also be sued for contributing to a fatal accident in some cases. A California Wrongful Death Attorney would explore the family’s options to hold an employer financially responsible for the tragic loss of life.
What if I can’t afford to pay a San Jose Workers’ Compensation lawyer?
You can always afford the help of a skilled Maison Law attorney. We work on a contingency fee basis. It means we cover all upfront costs and you owe us nothing unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the workers’ compensation check you receive.
How long can I wait to file a California Workers’ Compensation injury claim?
Injured workers must alert their employers of a head injury within 30 days. Then, victims usually have one year from the accident date to file a claim with Workers’ Compensation. In some cases, the one-year deadline counts down from the day the worker learns of an injury or illness. The deadline could be extended if the victim is under the age of 18.
Contact a San Jose Workers’ Compensation Attorney
The most important outcome is that you can count on the most support possible through Workers’ Compensation as you recover. A San Jose Worker’s Compensation Lawyer provides the best chance to do that. Workers who are injured and who lose their ability to support their families must get every benefit possible now and in the future. Maison Law can help untangle the options and get injured workers on track to rebuild their lives and their careers.
There’s an easy way to find out which path offers you the fastest route to the support you and your family desperately need. Speak to Maison Law in a free, no-obligation consultation. We want to hear about what happened to you and then help you determine the best course of action for your family.
