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If you are injured – either at work, or at home, or at any other location – we will help you to get your maximum compensation.
If you’ve suffered an injury because of your job in California, you may be entitled to benefits under California's Workers Compensation Act. If you’re an eligible employee with a work-related injury or illness, the law requires your California employer to pay for your medical treatment and partial wage replacement while you’re away from work and recovering.
Our workers’ compensation attorneys work on a contingency fee basis. We are getting paid a percentage of your settlement award. However, your attorney will not receive any portion of your medical costs or your temporary disability payments.
While your claim is being considered, the insurance company is legally responsible for up to $10,000 of your medical costs, even if it ultimately denies the claim. If your doctor says that you can’t do any part of your job for a while because of your work-related injury or illness, you’re entitled to temporary disability (TD).
The Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF) was formerly known as the Subsequent Injuries Fund (SIF). These are complex cases involving catastrophic injuries. A SIF case is present when pre-exisiting disability combines with a subsequent industrial injury to produce a current disability of seventy percent (70%) or more. The idea behind SIF cases is for the State to pay handicapped workers who suffer a subsequent industrial injury. The employer is insulated from liability and thus they are encouraged to hire handicapped or disabled workers. Specifically, SIF cases provide additional benefits under specified circumstances when an employee with a prior disability suffers a subsequent workplace injury. The SIF provides compensation “for the remainder of the combined permanent disability existing after the last injury” (§ 4751) less the amount of all benefits received by the employee on account of the preexisting disability (§ 4753).
Sometimes you can go back to your job with work restrictions if your employer is willing and able to make accommodations. If your doctor says you can go back to work with restrictions but your employer is unwilling or unable to accommodate , you are not required to return to work
Most workers fully recover from job injuries but some continue to have medical problems. Permanent disability (PD) is any lasting disability that results in a reduced earning capacity after maximum medical improvement is reached.
When there is a disagreement, you may be evaluated by a qualified medical evaluator (QME). To qualify as a QME, a physician must meet additional educational and licensing requirements.
A doctor determines if your injury or illness caused PD. After your doctor decides your injury or illness has stabilized and no change is likely, PD is evaluated. The doctor also determines if any of your disability was caused by something other than your work injury.
The inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of a medically determinable impairment, physical or mental (or combination of impairments), which can be expected to result in death, or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 continuous months. 42 U.S.C. § 423(d)(1) & 20 C.F.R. § 404.1505 • The definition of disability is the same for both Title II (SSDI) and Title XVI (SSI) benefits. • Disability is established based upon limitations caused by medically determinable impairments, not by diagnosis alone. A claimant can have concurrent SSDI and SSI claims pending concurrently. However, the claims must usually be filed separately. DISABILITY INSURANCE BENEFITS • Title II, SSDI, DIB • To be entitled to Disability Insurance Benefits, a claimant must have worked, and paid into the system, long enough to be fully insured to receive same. SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME BENEFITS • Title XVI, SSI, or SSID • A welfare based Social Security program based on financial need. – Unlike Title II, SSI is not based on eligible quarters or how much a claimant worked. – Must be financially eligible.
