If you’ve been injured on the job, Kansas laws state that you are eligible to receive compensation for medical bills, including doctors, hospitals, physical therapy, chiropractors, home care and equipment. However, your employer may be reluctant to help and even dispute your claim for one reason: money. All employers pay insurance premiums to provide worker compensation benefits to their employees. And just like other insurance products, premiums may increase when claims are filed. It is unfortunate that employer’s are led to believe that a claim against them will increase their premium because in Kansas premiums are based on the entire industry. In other words, the overall safety of the industry you are in is what determines the premiums paid by your employer and not the individual safety record of your employer.
Obviously, the more claims filed, the higher the cost for the company. However, not every claim leads to a raise in premiums. Because insurance companies can lose money from workers compensation claims, insurance companies may hire an investigative agency to find holes in the workers story. For example, if an employee makes a claim that his back has been injured, but the investigative agency observes him moving heavy objects, the insurance company may fight the claim.
Some employers also have a bias against workers. Cumulative trauma injuries are often viewed as false and “malingering.” Malingering is the term for feigning sickness or disability for monetary gain. An employer may be especially adamant that the injured worker is malingering if the injury involves unexplainable pain and cannot be confirmed by medical examination. Since many medical conditions are difficult to confirm, claiming an employee is malingering may save the insurance company money by fighting the claim.
If you have suffered a workplace injury, but your workers comp claim was denied, contact your employer’s insurance company. If a solution cannot be reached, contact a Wichita worker’s compensation attorney. You have the right workers compensation benefits if you have been injured in the scope of employment and a skilled personal injury lawyer can help you. If you think your boss is retaliating against you because of an injury, check out this article.
Your boss may tell you that your injury isn’t covered by workers comp, but always check with a lawyer!
At Ray Hodge & Associates, we believe in personal injury handled personally. At our office you see a lawyer from the very first meeting because we believe your case deserves an experienced personal injury attorney right from the start.
If you have had a Kansas workplace injury that was not your fault and need medical treatment, you need an experienced professional who can help you get back on the road to recovery. Call us today at 316-269-1414 or visit our contact page here. Our Kansas personal injury attorneys will provide you a free initial consultation and if we take your case you don’t pay a dime unless we recover money for you. Even then we only take a percentage of the total amount of your recovery.
If you have questions on what you should be looking for when you are making a decision to hire a Kansas personal injury lawyer, read our article located here.
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Ray Hodge & Associates proudly represents victims and their families across the state of Kansas, including Wichita, Andover, Derby, Goddard, Haysville, Mulvane, Rose Hill, Newton, El Dorado and Hutchinson. Call today for a free consultation all over the state of Kansas. We have proudly served clients in Sedgwick, Butler, Sumner, Harvey, Kingman and Reno Counties.