Maison Law stands ready to help anyone injured in a work accident across San Jose. While workers’ compensation helps those hurt on the job, including in accidents involving unsafe scaffolding, not every victim is treated fairly. Not everyone receives the same amount of support. We want to make sure every victim has the money to pay every medical bill and continue to support their families.
Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation to learn more about your options that may go beyond standard Workers’ Comp benefits.
Do I Need a Lawyer When Filing an Injury Claim with Workers’ Compensation in San Jose?
If you receive only a minor injury and only miss a few days of work, you may not require the help of a lawyer to get fair treatment. A lawyer may not be able to help you secure more from Workers’ Compensation.
However, when more serious injuries are involved, cases become more complex. A broken bone or a serious head injury wouldn’t be uncommon after a fall from scaffolding. The medical bills will be much higher.
Employers and Workers’ Compensation Insurance adjusters will work harder to limit what victims receive. It can pay to have a skilled San Jose Workers’ Compensation attorney in your corner who can build evidence in your favor and negotiate for more for you and your family.
How Can a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Improve the Outcome of My Case?
A lawyer also means protection for you and your family at such a vulnerable time. The evidence your lawyer collects keeps insurers from trying to blame an accident on you. Strong evidence also allows your lawyer to negotiate from a position of strength when asking for more support for you than you probably thought was possible.
These are just a few of the ways a lawyer can benefit your Workers’ Compensation case:
- A lawyer can fully investigate your accident and document what happened before an employer tries to twist the facts
- A lawyer can represent you before a Workers’ Compensation judge to make sure your story is heard and your recovery needs are addressed
- Your lawyer can demand the most for your injury and often secure much more for you than you could secure handling your case yourself
- A lawyer can help you file a lawsuit if a negligent employer should provide support beyond what a Workers’ Compensation provides
- A lawyer takes action if you feel you are being treated unfairly by your employer
- A lawyer takes action if you feel your employer is withholding benefits
- A lawyer ensures you receive lifelong support if you’ve received a permanent disability
- A lawyer can file an appeal if you are denied support the first time
Your lawyer offers the best chance to maximize your workers’ compensation. Calculating how much you’ll lose personally and professionally due to a major injury shouldn’t be left up to the courts or an insurance provider. You can walk away from a workers’ comp hearing with much less than you need to recover physically and financially and have no way to demand more.
The guidebook provided by The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) explains some of the reasons it’s a good idea to have legal representation when filing a Workers’ Comp claim.
Common Causes of Scaffolding Accidents
Plenty of scaffolding goes up around San Jose construction sites and renovation sites. Construction workers and those in other fields, such as farming, painting, and warehouse work, must often travel many feet in the air and rely on those platforms to hold as they do their important work.
The scaffolding must be manufactured properly, set up to specification, inspected, and rechecked at regular intervals. Employers are also responsible for supplying proper safety gear, including tethers to keep people safe.
In every sector, accidents occur and people get hurt. These are just some of the factors that can lead to frightening scaffolding accidents:
- Scaffolding segments improperly manufactured
- Scaffolding improperly installed
- Scaffolding wind and weather hazards
- Scaffolding support collapse
- Objects falling from scaffolding and hitting victims below
- Electrocution
- Lack of safety training for managers and scaffolding workers
- Lack of safety equipment like guardrails, safety harnesses, and lanyards
Victims can suffer major falls, leading to broken legs, Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs), and the loss of life. A Maison Law attorney helps victims and their families seek justice after such a frightening accident. We demand support for the immediate costs that victims face, and for the care that could be needed months or years from now due to a serious injury.
We demand the most from Workers’ Compensation insurers. When insurers refuse to accept blame, California Workers’ Compensation judges may not get the whole store and fail to award everything families need. Maison Law makes sure judges understand the true extent of an injury and seek as much in support as possible on the victim’s behalf.
Can I Sue My Employer After Suffering an Injury While Using Scaffolding?
Generally, injured workers would only be able to seek support through California’s Workers’ Compensation program. But if an employer or a scaffolding manufacturer was grossly negligent in the accident, a lawsuit could be filed.
There are a few circumstances that would allow you to file a lawsuit against your employer or some other at-fault party.
It may be necessary to file a lawsuit if…
- your employers knew they were putting you in danger without warning you
- your employers forced you to use or work around known harmful substances and you got sick
- your employer failed to provide safety equipment and neglected to properly secure scaffolding
- your employer violated safety and building codes to put you at risk
- the manufacturer of the scaffolding was guilty of providing equipment with a design flaw or manufacturing defect and covered up the danger
Your attorney would be prepared to file claims against any individual or company that contributed to your injury. Workers’ Compensation sometimes runs out before victims are fully healed. Emotional trauma caused by a fall also isn’t usually covered by Workers’ Comp. Perhaps a frightening fall has left you unable to mentally withstand returning to the worksite where it happened.
Taking an employer to court may be the only way to see that all of the consequences of a workplace accident are covered. These damages shouldn’t be left in the victim’s lap.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I tell my supervisor about my injury?
Let your employer or a manager know immediately about any injury. If you wait longer than a month to alert your manager it may allow your employer to refuse Workers’ Compensation assistance.
How long can I wait to file a California Workers’ Compensation injury claim?
As seen above, injured workers should report their injuries to their employers as soon as possible. Then they usually have up to one year from the date of the accident to file a claim with California’s Division of 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.
What kinds of things can workers hurt while using scaffolding earn support for?
Victims should fight to get all past, present, and future medical bills covered. They could seek temporary or permanent disability benefits. Injured workers should get money to help pay for an education or training to enter a new career if they can no longer go back to their old jobs. Families should receive death benefits if a loved one has been taken from them after an on-the-job accident.
Contact a Scaffolding Injury Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
Those hurt while working on or around scaffolding should never be afraid to speak up. They’ve hurt themselves while sacrificing their safety and physical wellbeing for their companies, and those companies must be there for them now that they are injured.
Speak to Maison Law in a free consultation. We want to hear about what happened to you and then help you determine the best course of action for your family. We also want to make sure you earn the maximum in benefits for your family while you are down with an injury.
If you do need us to earn more for your claim, Maison Law’s San Jose Workers’ Compensation Lawyer works on a contingency basis. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. There’s zero upfront cost. Then our attorney’s fee comes out of the Workers’ Compensation support you are awarded.
