Whether it is caused by exposure to scalding water, superheated metal, caustic chemicals, or unblocked radiation, sustaining a high-degree burn while working can have a negative impact on your professional and personal life. Fortunately, if you are considered an employee of the company you work for, you almost certainly have a right to seek workers’ compensation benefits to help alleviate the physical and financial harm that your burn injury will cause you.
Unfortunately, obtaining the benefits you need through a workers’ comp claim can be much more difficult in practice than it might seem on paper, especially if you try to file your claim without an experienced workplace injury attorney’s help. By retaining and working closely with a Downey workplace burn injury lawyer, you can give yourself a chance of case success without putting too much additional stress on you or your loved ones.
A worker who sustains a burn injury on the job and wants to file a workers’ comp claim over it must notify their employer of their injury in writing as soon as possible after initially getting hurt or—if applicable—initially discovering they have been hurt due to work-related conditions. Unless they need emergency medical treatment, they should seek medical attention for their injury, specifically from an employer-approved provider, attend all scheduled doctors’ appointments, and follow all instructions provided by their treating physician(s).
Relatively quickly after first receiving notice of an injury, the injured worker’s employer should provide them with a workers’ comp claims form to fill out. Once the worker fills out this form and submits it to their employer and/or their employer’s insurance company, their direct involvement in the claims process should be over, but help is available from a Downey workplace burn injury attorney in resolving any disputes about claim validity or benefits that arise after this point.
An employee who sustains a work-related burn injury should be eligible for full reimbursement of all reasonably necessary medical expenses and a substantial portion of wages or salary they lose while out of work. Depending on the severity of the injury, these disability benefits may be paid out for partial or total disability on a temporary or permanent basis, as a workplace burn injury lawyer in Downey could further explain during an initial meeting.
One important thing to note about burn injury claims is that California law allows doctors to incorporate scarring or disfigurement into the disability rating they assign to a permanently disabled worker. This rating takes the form of a percentage from zero to 100 percent, with 100 percent meaning total disability that completely prevents the worker from holding any gainful employment ever again.
Even if you have lots of evidence proving that you were severely burned as a direct result of a workplace accident or work-related conditions, that does not necessarily mean you will have an easy time pursuing workers’ comp benefits. In fact, support from legal counsel is often vital to getting benefits in the first place and then to getting every benefit to which you should be legally entitled based on your circumstances.
A Downey workplace burn injury lawyer could answer questions about your recovery options and offer advice about next steps during a confidential consultation. Call today to schedule yours.
