The Florida workers compensation law is a very complex field of law. When an employee is injured on the job, the employee is entitled to medical and lost wage benefits. The law requires an employee injured at work to report an accident within 30 days from the time that it occurred to their employer. Once the injury is reported, the responsibility shifts to the employer to contact their insurance carrier in order to provide medical treatment. The medical treatment is provided by the insurance carrier of the employer and the carrier authorizes a medical provider from within their network.
If an authorized medical provider opines that the employee is unable to work or places the worker on light duty restrictions, the carrier may have to pay lost wage benefits for the time the employee is unable to work. In many cases, the carrier may not pay the wage benefits even though they should. This is one situation where having an attorney is beneficial because the attorney can file a claim with the Judge of Compensation Claims court and fight the entitlement of this benefit.
The Employer/Carrier may also deny a claim for many different reasons. Even though the claim is denied, this does not mean that it is a correct denial. An attorney in this situation can investigate the basis of the denial and provide evidence as to why the denial should be overturned.
As you can see, workers compensation benefits are not always provided to an injured employee. That is why it is important to hire a workers compensation attorney who handles these types of situations. If you were injured on the job or know of someone who was, have them give us a call at (844) 762-8155.