WHAT WORKERS COMPENSATION WON'T DO

   Many workers compensation clients are confused about what workers compensation will do and what it won't do.  The Georgia workers compensation does three things:  (1) provides partial replacement of your lost wages when you are out of work with a work injury; (2) provides you with medical treatment for your work injury, but "with strings attached"; and (3) provides you with a payment for any permanent disability or impairment you may have after your medical treatment ends. 

   Other benefits may be available if your workers compensation injury is truly catastrophic--such as blindness, brain damage, amputation of an arm or leg, or some other similar devastating injury.  Note only a very small percentage of workers compensation injuries are deemed catastrophic.

   Benefits through Georgia's workers compensation system are intentionally not generous because the purpose is to get the injured worker back to work as soon as possible.

   Unlike an injury caused in a car wreck, an injury caused on the job will not give you money for pain and suffering.  An injury caused on the job will not give your husband or wife money for their inconvenience caused by your work injury.  It will not fully replace your lost income while you're out of work.  And it won't give you any money for the other financial problems that are caused when your income drops during your workers compensation claim -- such as having your house foreclosed on.

  Another frustrating problem with the workers compensation system is that there is no way to force a settlement of your claim.  In a car wreck case, you can have a trial of your claim to a jury and let the jury decide the value of the claim.  However, in workers compensation cases, the only way to settle a claim is for both sides to voluntarily agree on a lump sum payment to end the claim.

   This is why you need an experienced workers compensation attorney fighting for you from the very beginning of your workers compensation claim -- to let you know your rights and to maximize the value of your workers compensation claim.

   Bill Gentry has been practicing law in Georgia since 1986 and has handled hundreds of workers compensation claims for injured workers like you.  Call him today to discuss your claim or set up a free appointment at 770-425-5573.  For more information, you can email us at bill@gentrysmithlaw.com or visit our website at www.gentrylawfirmgeorgia.com.

Weekly Checks While You Can't Work

This post explains the money you are entitled to when you are unable to work because of an on the job injury. To be entitled to any money, your doctor must state either that you are completely unable to work or that you have restrictions on what you can do that keeps you from being able to do your own old job. Without this statement, you will probably not get any money for your lost wages.

Your weekly check should be two-thirds (2/3) of what your gross weekly pay was right before you were hurt. However, this amount is capped at $500 per week. If your income changes from week to week, your employer will take a weekly average for the 3 months right before you were hurt.

When your checks start can be confusing. While your checks should come weekly, you won't get one until the end of the second week of being out of work. At the end of your third week out of work, you should be paid for the first and the third weeks out of work. After that, you shoud receive a check every week thereafter.

If your injury is catastrophic (extremely severe), your weekly checks can go on indefinitely. However, for less serious injuries (the vast majority of them), your weekly checks can and probably will end or be reduced in amount. This can happen because the doctor has reduced your work restrictions or it's been 350 or 400 weeks after your injury.

Most workers compensation cases end in settlement, and the value of your case drops over time. Determining the best time to settle, both for you and for your case, takes an experienced workers compensation lawyer.

I would be happy to meet with you in my office at no charge to you to discuss your workers compensation case and to discuss your legal rights and responsibilities.  This meeting also gives you the opportunity to get to know me and for me to get to know you and your precise legal problems. 

I've been practicing law in the metro Atlanta area since graduating from UGA Law School in 1986, and I've represented hundreds of injured men and women with their workers compensation cases during over 25 years of practicing law.

For more information, visit my website at www.gentrylawfirmgeorgia.com or call or email us for a free in-person consultation at 770-425-5573 or bill@gentrysmithlaw.com.

William C. (Bill) Gentry

Your Rights for Medical Treatment

This blog post deals with the kind of medical treatment you can expect if you’ve been hurt on the job.  Georgia law says that if you’ve been hurt on the job, your employer and workers compensation insurer are required to give you medical care required and likely “to effect a cure, give relief, or restore the employee to suitable employment.”

However, there are strings attached!  Unless it’s a true emergency, you typically cannot simply pick any doctor for your medical care.  If your employer has a “panel of physicians” on the wall at work (often in the break room), you’re usually required to select a doctor off that panel.  If you don’t follow the rules on selecting a doctor, you may end up having to pay for your medical care yourself!

What if you don’t like the doctor that you’ve selected?  Are you required to keep going to that doctor?  Fortunately, the answer is probably not.

Georgia workers compensation law gives you the right to make one change from one doctor on the panel to another doctor on the panel.  In certain circumstances, if the employer or insurer has not followed the rules regarding your medical care, they may have lost control of the medical part of your claim, and you might be able to select a different doctor who is not even on the panel.

The best way to find out your rights to medical treatment and compensation under the workers compensation laws of Georgia is to speak with a lawyer.

I would be happy to meet with you in my office at no charge to you to discuss your workers compensation case and to discuss your legal rights and responsibilities.  This meeting also gives you the opportunity to get to know me and for me to get to know you and your precise legal problems. 

I've been practicing law in the metro Atlanta area since graduating from UGA Law School in 1986, and I've represented hundreds of injured men and women with their workers compensation cases during over 25 years of practicing law.

For more information, visit my website at www.gentrylawfirmgeorgia.com or call or email us for a free in-person consultation at 770-425-5573 or bill@gentrysmithlaw.com.

William C. (Bill) Gentry

Benefits Available

My next few blog posts will address the three types of benefits available to people who have suffered on-the-job injuries and have workers compensation claims.  These are (1) weekly checks while you’re out of work; (2) medical treatment to help you recover; and (3) a check based on any permanent disability you have as a result of your on-the-job injury.

Today’s post deals with (1) – weekly checks while you’re out of work.  As long as your doctor says that you are unable to work because of your injury, or your doctor released you to work with restrictions and your employer cannot return you to work within those restrictions, your employer and your workers compensation insurance company are obligated to pay you two-thirds of your average weekly wage, but this amount is capped at $500 per week.  This is called temporary total disability (TTD) benefits.

For example, if you were earning an average of $600 per week before you got hurt, you would be entitled to $400 per week from workers compensation benefits (2/3 of your average weekly wage before you got hurt).  Remember this is calculated on your “gross” wage (before taxes are taken out), NOT your take-home pay.

However, if you were earning $900 per week on average before you were hurt on the job, you would receive only $500 per week, rather than $600, because your weekly workers compensation check would be capped at $500 per week.

Georgia’s workers compensation law does not require your employer/workers compensation insurer to pay you for the first week you miss from work unless and until you’ve missed THREE (3) weeks of work.  In other words, at the end of the first week out of work, you do not receive a check.  At the end of the second week out of work, you receive a check for one week’s lost income, and at the end of the third week out of work, you receive a check for two week’s lost income.

If it sounds confusing, it can be, and you should contact a lawyer to discuss your claim as soon as possible.

I've been practicing law in the metro Atlanta area since graduating from UGA Law School in 1986, and I've represented hundreds of injured men and women with their workers compensation cases during over 25 years of practicing law.

For more information, visit my website at www.gentrylawfirmgeorgia.com or call or email us for a free in-person consultation at 770-425-5573 or bill@gentrysmithlaw.com.

William C. (Bill) Gentry

Welcome to my workers compensation law blog!  In it, I'm going to talk about legal problems facing people who have been hurt on the job.

What is workers compensation law?  It is a set of laws and a specialized court system that deal with people who have been hurt while working for someone else.

If you have been hurt on the job, you are probably eligible for three types of benefits through your employer and its workers compensation insurer:  (1) medical treatment for your injury; (2) weekly checks for as long as your doctor says you can’t return to your old job because of your injury; and (3) a permanent impairment rating that your doctor gives you if you are not expected to completely recover from your injury.

Like almost every area of the law, there are exceptions to every rule.  For example, if your employer doesn’t have 3 or more employees, your employer probably does not have to have workers compensation insurance.  Also, if you were under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of your injury, you may not be able to get workers compensation benefits.

If you are hurt on the job, important deadlines may affect your claim.  For example, generally, within 30 days of the date of your injury, you must tell your employer that you were hurt on the job and that you are seeking medical treatment for your injury.  Also, you must file a written notice of your claim with the State Board of Workers Compensation by the latest of three different dates:  one year from the date of your injury, one year after your last remedial medical treatment for your injury, or two years from the date of your last weekly check from the workers compensation insurer.

If it sounds confusing, it can be, and you should contact a lawyer to discuss your claim as soon as possible.

I've been practicing law in the metro Atlanta area since graduating from UGA Law School in 1986, and I've represented hundreds of injured men and women with their workers compensation cases during over 25 years of practicing law.

For more information, visit my website at www.gentrylawfirmgeorgia.com or call us for a free in-person consultation at 770-425-5573.

William C. (Bill) Gentry