Maison Law of Santa Cruz stands ready to help anyone injured while on the job. We can help employees in Santa Cruz County earn the most possible through Workers’ Compensation after they’ve been hurt. Not every victim is treated fairly, and not everyone receives the same amount of Worker’s Comp compensation. We want to make sure every victim has the money to pay every medical bill and support their families.
Contact us today for a free consultation to learn more about your options that may go beyond standard workers’ comp benefits.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Suffering an Injury While Working in Santa Cruz?
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 through workers’ compensation. However, a workplace accident that results in a more serious injury and extended medical bills may force you to fight to get all recovery costs reimbursed. A skilled Santa Cruz Workers’ Compensation Lawyer can help you secure more for more complex cases, especially those involving higher healthcare expenses.
The guidebook provided by The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) explains that you should consider hiring a lawyer if you feel your employer or claims administrator isn’t treating you fairly. Talking to a lawyer is also a good idea if you may have been left with a permanent disability.
You should contact a lawyer if you feel you might have to file a lawsuit against your company. You should also reach out if you feel you won’t be able to secure enough support on your own to get by and support your family. Strong legal representation can often secure much more in compensation for you than you could win yourself.
Workplace Accident Dangers in Santa Cruz County
Santa Cruz is an amazing place that receives visitors all year round. Plenty of local residents work hard to make every trip to the Santa Cruz area a memorable one. That means people in the service and tourism industry. Construction workers who help raise homes and resorts to keep the local economy running are also included. These and other workers deserve safe working environments.
Unfortunately, employers can put profits over employee safety and allow workers to get seriously hurt. Victims with broken bones or head injuries can miss weeks of work and have little chance to support their families and pay off their medical debt. Thankfully they can turn to Workers’ Compensation for help. Yet, in some cases, Workers’ Comp doesn’t provide enough compensation.
Maison Law of Santa Cruz wants to be a safeguard for victims and earn them everything needed to rebuild their lives and careers. These are just some of the local occupations and risks that we can help injured employees earn maximum compensation for:
- Workers’ Comp Cases involving workers in the hotel, resort, and tourism industries
- Retail worker injuries
- Business property dangers, fall hazards inside offices and outside in parking lots
- Workers’ Comp cases involving injured construction workers
- Workers’ Comp cases involving farm laborers and orchard workers
- Manufacturing plant and packing plant dangers
- Support for injured city, county, or state government employees
- Collapsing shelves and overhead hazards
- Injuries involving work vehicles like trucks, forklifts, and order pickers
- Machinery dangers
- Tool dangers
- Burns and electrical shock
- Exposure to hazardous substances
- Ventilation issues
- Unmaintained stairwells
- Slip-and-falls on puddles or trip-and-falls on debris left in workplace
- Falls from great heights
- Exposure to elements
- Back and neck strain
- Repetitive motion injuries
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 court. 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.
Your Maison Law Workers’ Compensation lawyer fights to get 100% of medical expenses, lost wages, and rehab covered if you’re hurt at work.
How Can a Lawyer Help Me Earn More for a Workers’ Compensation Claim?
Workers’ Compensation protects all workers in California, including undocumented workers, but not all workers will receive the same level of support. The amount on a settlement check you receive can vary greatly depending on the evidence you collect and the manner in which you file your claim.
Your lawyer investigates what happened to you and examines the past record of your employer. Your attorney builds your case backed with powerful evidence. Then your lawyer represents you before a Workers’ Compensation Judge to make sure your story is heard and every hardship you’ve endured is considered when deciding the level of support required.
Your attorney negotiates for the maximum compensation support available so you never have to pay for care out of your own pocket when an injury flares up in the future. Your attorney handles all of this frustrating process while allowing you the time to focus on getting better.
Another important protection: Your lawyer protects you from retaliation and takes action if you are fired unjustly after getting injured.
Winning Compensation for Injured Workplace Accident Victims
Your attorney files a claim featuring every hardship you’ve endured since your accident and estimates on the care you may need in the years ahead. It’s critical to include everything caused by a painful injury. Anything left off becomes a cost that families may have to pay themselves.
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 and their families 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.
- Death Benefits. Payments to your spouse, children, or other dependents if you die from a job injury or illness.
- Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit. A voucher to help pay for retraining or skill enhancement if you are eligible to receive permanent disability benefits, your employer doesn’t offer you work, and you don’t return to work for your employer.
Should I Sue My Employer After Getting Hurt at Work?
Injured employees are usually only allowed to seek help from Workers’ Comp benefits. Employers pay into this benefit in case workers get hurt. However, if an employer purposely disregards workers’ safety or recklessly puts them at risk, a lawsuit may be a good option.
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 other hardships.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I can’t afford to pay a California 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 much does a worker’s compensation lawyer earn?
If successful, the lawyer would usually receive between 9% and 15% of the award the client received. The complexity of the case would usually determine the exact fee. A Workers’ Compensation judge checks over the fee to make sure it’s fair and has to approve it. Make sure to ask your potential attorney about how much they charge and how they get paid before making a hire for your case.
When should I report my injury at work?
Immediately. Alert your supervisor as soon as you are injured. If you wait longer than 30 days to inform your employer of an injury, you may lose your chance to file a claim. You can find more information on how to proceed on the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) website.
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.
Contact a Santa Cruz Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
The most important outcome is that the injured and those who lose their ability to support their families get the full support they require for as long as necessary. Deciding which legal option is right for your situation can be difficult, but you don’t have to make the decision alone. Maison Law can help untangle this mess 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.
