logo
1-800-319-9000
1-800-319-9000
logo

First, tell your employer. Preferably in writing. Second, tell your rehabilitation nurse if you have one. Again, preferably in writing. Third, tell you doctor. And tell your doctor that you’ve already told your employer and your rehabilitation nurse without any real success.

And here is why it’s important to put things in writing. You want to be able to show your doctor the notes/emails you’ve written showing how you’ve tried to work things out. This is important: when you are writing an email to your supervisor explaining the problems you are having remember that you want to be able to show your nurse, your doctor, your lawyer, and the Industrial Commission that letter.

There’s nothing to gain in writing a sarcastic note to your boss telling him he’s a bonehead who doesn’t know how to run a company. It may well be true but it’s not going to help your cause any. Instead, write a letter saying how great it is to be back and you love the workplace but you’ve got this one little issue that needs help. When he ignores you because he’s a bonehead who doesn’t know how to run a company at least you’ll have something to show the doctor. And you’ll look good in the process. There really aren’t any clear-cut requirements for what a doctor does. So maintaining some credibility and looking good cannot hurt your chances at all.

If you cannot earn as much money as you did prior to your injury you are entitled to be paid two-thirds of your wage loss for a period of 500 weeks from the date of the injury. In some rare exceptions you may be able to be paid beyond that 500 week date if you can prove you are incapable of any work whatsoever.

Most people are able to return to the workforce but at reduced pay. In those situations the insurance company will be required to pay two-thirds of your loss on a weekly basis. Keep in mind that as you get raises or promotions the amount that the adjuster owes you will go down.

If we can establish that your wage loss is going to be greater than 25% we can often work it so that the insurance adjuster is required to send you to school for retraining. You are entitled to attend any public North Carolina community college or university and the adjuster will have to pay all associated expenses for that.

The overwhelming majority or our clients return to work. Fortunately, a fairly small number are so severely injured that they’re never able to return to work.

It is fairly unlikely that your company is going to blackball you after you’re gone. Most companies understand the legal risk they take in doing that and many have a policy that they will confirm your dates of employment and rate of pay but nothing beyond that. Admittedly, smaller companies may be more likely to take a chance by saying something negative but it’s unlikely.

The one word of caution we need to put out is that under the new laws if you misstate your physical condition and you reinjure yourself the new employer could be off the hook for workers’ compensation. Don’t be alarmed – you do not have to turn over your medical records and stuff like that. But if you’ve just had a fusion on your back and the prospective employer tells you how physically demanding the job is and asks if you have any back problems… well, this is a lousy time to lie and say you are just fine. Forget the worker’s compensation implications for a minute. Do you really want to reinjure yourself and go through all of this again? We didn’t think so.

Use your common sense. You don’t have to advertise your limitations, but don’t put yourself in a position where you cannot safely do the job. For your own sake.

You’ve got a whole new claim. There are not really pre-existing condition exclusions in the Workers’ Compensation Act. The closest thing is if you lie your way into a new job by denying that you have anything physically wrong with you. If you promptly reinjure yourself the claim could be denied.

Hopefully you’ll never have another claim!

The Industrial Commission (informally called the NCIC, or sometimes super informally called just the IC) is the government agency which is in charge of handling all workers’ compensation claims. You may not realize this but workers’ compensation claims do NOT go to court. You will never see a judge or a jury in a workers’ compensation case.

If there is a dispute in your case it will be heard by a Deputy Commissioner. The Deputy Commissioner is like a judge. He or she will hear your side of the story, your employer’s side of the story, what the doctors have to say and then will file a written decision called an Opinion and Award.

The losing side on and Opinion and Award can file an appeal to the Full Commission. The Full Commission is a panel of three Commissioners who reconsider the evidence, which was presented to the Deputy Commissioner. The attorney for each side gets 20 minutes to tell the Full Commission what they should focus on, and the Commissioners may very well be asking that attorney a lot of questions.

Follow Us

Contact Us

Footer Contact Form

Thank you for contacting Oxner + Permar. If you have questions you can contact us at 1.800.319.9000, or complete the form below.

UnitedHealthCare creates and publishes the Machine-Readable Files on behalf of Oxner + Permar PLLC. To link to the Machine-Readable Files, please click on the URL provided: transparency-in-coverage.uhc.com
© Oxner + Permar PLLC 2024. All rights reserved.
Start Chat