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Washington DC Workers’ Compensation Lawyer


30+ Years | 10,000+ Cases | $300 Million+ Recovered

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Whether you love or loathe your job, if you got injured while working and do not know if you need a workers compensation law firm Washington D.C. residents have relied on in the past, there is a pretty good chance that you are pretty upset about your work related injury.

If you think you may need a reputable workers compensation lawyer or are unsure of whether or not you do, contact Cohen & Cohen P.C., for a free case evaluation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. One of our trained professionals will discuss your unique situation to determine if we can help you get compensation for your injury. If we know that there is someone else who may be better suited to your needs, we will recommend them to you.

Being injured can comprise a person’s physical health along with their mental and emotional well-being. When you get in contact with a workers compensation law firm Washington D.C. workers compensation victims and their families have been glad to have on their side, you may start to feel a little bit better just knowing that you are not in this alone.

At Cohen & Cohen P.C., we believe in shouldering the burden of the legal process to its fullest weight so that you don’t have to.

Injuries

There is a vast range of workplace injuries that can happen to people who are simply doing their jobs the way that they are supposed to do.

Some people might conjure up images of workplace injuries as accidents that happen on a construction site, factory or warehouse environment. While injuries on the job unfortunately occur in these types of environments they also occur in offices, schools, medical facilities, theaters, restaurants, and stores, to name just a few.

Workplace injuries can result in physical, mental or emotional injuries. They can occur for many different reasons. The following are common ways in which people get injured at work. It is not an exhaustive list nor is it meant to be legal advice.

Common ways workplace injuries occur and common workplace injuries include but are not limited to:

  • Co-worker negligence
  • Management negligence
  • Slip and fall accidents
  • Trip and fall accidents
  • Fall accidents
  • Strained muscles
  • Repetitive stress injuries
  • Physically and/or sexually abusive co-worker/s
  • Physically and/or sexually abusive management
  • Mentally or emotionally (including sexually) abusive co-workers
  • Mentally or emotionally (including sexually) abusive management
  • Students of all ages and sizes can be physically, sexually or emotionally
    abusive
  • Brain injuries
  • Exposure to noxious gases, fumes, etc.

As mentioned above, this is not an exhaustive list nor is it meant to determine whether or not your unique situation warrants a workers compensation claim. If you have suffered from a workplace injury in the D.C. area, talking to a workers compensation law firm Washington D.C. community members have gotten help from in the past, may help you to make a more informed decision of what your next best steps should be.

Workers Compensation Insurance

If you have been offered workers compensation insurance as compensation for your injuries, it may seem like a good deal. And it especially makes your immediate financial situation better than having to pay for your injuries out of pocket, or deal with insurance co-pays, deductibles, and prescriptions, etc.

It may help you to understand your rights when you talk to a highly trained workers compensation law firm Washington D.C. victims and their families have also gotten help with understanding their cases from.

A problem that often arises after a person accepts workers compensation insurance is that the patient has ongoing medical problems and lost wages and many additional expenses that are not covered by this initial offer. Very often, once you accept workers compensation insurance, it limits or completely removes your rights to seek future compensation.

Before you agree to workers compensation insurance, it may be in your best interest to talk to the workers compensation lawyers at Cohen & Cohen, a highly rated law firm Washington D.C. victim’s and their families have successfully gotten help with their workers compensation claims from before your unfortunate injury occurred.

Can you still sue if you accept workers’ compensation?

No, in general you cannot sue your employer if you already accepted workers’ compensation. However, only a licensed legal professional is qualified to answer that question with how it pertains to each unique and individual case.

Some of the complexity of this question may be more understandable with a brief history of how workers’ compensation laws came about.

In the United States, workers’ compensation laws were developed to protect both employees and employers.

Up until mandatory workers’ compensation insurance gave employees the right to be reimbursed for medical costs incurred because of an on the job injury, and the right to payment for lost wages as a result of an on the job injury, employees could sue an employer for these things. A problem with this system is that it would often take years to get a case to settle or to be tried in court. While weeding through a legal case in order to sue their employer, an injured employee could still not work, did not have any income, and had to pay his/her own medical bills.

Mandatory workers’ compensation insurance is now offered to employees in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee’s right to sue their employer for negligence. This tradeoff between guaranteed, limited coverage for an employee and giving up their right to legal recourse is known as, “the compensation bargain.”

With “the compensation bargain” in place, employers no longer have to worry (as much) about exorbitant awards coming out of their pockets for an injured employee. Historically, these types of awards had negative impacts on the employers resources that are needed to successfully run a business, oftentimes with bankruptcy as the end result.

The system of collective liability that “the compensation bargain” helps to create, thus helps to protect both employers and employees.

This system can be considered a “no fault system” because it views injuries on the job injuries as unavoidable aspects of a work relationship. With this in place, there is no need to prove that your employer, or someone employed by the employer, caused your injury.

Employers pay money into their workers’ compensation insurance in the hopes of protecting themselves from being sued by their employees. What the employers pay into their workers’ compensation insurance is then paid to an employee who is hurt on the job. The amount that an employee gets is dependent upon the kind of injury the employee is suffering from.

Typically, an employee does not get money from workers’ compensation insurance for their pain and suffering. It does protect an employee from being denied compensation for medical bills and lost wages even if the employer does not have the funds to pay you what you are entitled to. The workers’ compensation insurance carrier insures that your medical bills will be taken care of. This is why an injured employee is required to make injury claims against their employer with a workers’ compensation claim instead of a typical lawsuit.

To go back to the original question, the answer is, “No, you cannot sue,” but as mentioned earlier, only a lawyer who is licensed to practice in the jurisdiction where your injury occurred is qualified to give you legal advice, or the answer to this question and how it pertains to your specific situation.

Contact Cohen & Cohen, today if you have questions about workers’ compensation in the Washington, D.C., area.

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