This question: “I settled my Workers’ Comp case, can I get out of it?” calls for our favorite lawyer answer: it depends.

It depends on what you mean by “settled.” If the North Carolina Industrial Commission has approved a complete settlement and you’ve received money already then no, you cannot get out of the settlement.

On the other hand, if your “settlement” was payment for your rating then you are still entitled to medical treatment in many situations. While we’ve seen adjusters try to tell injured workers otherwise they are often wrong.

If you went to a mediation and reached an agreement at the mediation and signed a Mediated Settlement Agreement form then the defendants can go to the Industrial Commission and try to enforce this agreement. It is generally unsuccessful to argue that you were under duress or confused when you signed it. The better approach is to argue the Industrial Commission shouldn’t even approve the agreement because it is patently unfair. That has some, but not a great, chance of success.

If you just made a verbal deal you can probably get out of that. But understand that if you do so there’s probably little likelihood of getting another or better deal anytime soon. Many adjusters and defense attorneys will simply decline to deal with you because they suspect you may back out of the new deal as well.

If you’ve been offered a settlement, by all means call us before accepting it. We are happy to discuss it with you and let you know our honest impression. It may be a good deal, a great deal, a fair deal, or an awful deal. We’ll tell you what we think and if there are any ways to improve it. With 25 attorneys and over $275 million is Workers’ Compensation awards and settlements, we can advise you on getting the benefits you deserve.

Often, but not always, an employer will ask you to resign as part of a certain type of settlement. Those settlements usually are significantly larger than being paid for your rating. When you take your rating it is extremely unlikely that you’d be asked to resign.

The reason that an employer may do this is that the insurance company is paying you to give up their obligation for your future medical care. So say they give you $50,000.00 to give up the right to medical care for your back. And then six weeks later you blow out your back again… that $50k is in your pocket and you have a whole new claim. Which is going to cost them a bunch of money again.

We’ve had potential clients tell us that their employer fired everyone who filed workers’ compensation claims. Many times we’ve represented the “fired” employee and they, in fact, were not fired at all. Their employer had paid them a lot of extra money to get them to resign. This was something that our clients considered and willingly did because it fit into their goals. Many of them had other jobs lined up, some were ready to retire, and others were planning on staying home and raising a family. Why would an employer spread the rumor that these people had been fired? A possible answer is that the rumor was intended to deter other workers from filing workers’ compensation claims. Think about it… if you ran a company and wanted to prevent people from filing workers compensation claims would you say that people who had claims got paid tens, or hundreds of thousands of dollars? Or would you quietly create an atmosphere of fear and let potential claimants wonder if they’re going to lose their job and be destitute.

One last thing while we are on this point. If you’re employer has changed insurance companies while your claim was going on it is much more likely that you can settle the case – even get the extra money for giving up future medical care – because that insurance company is no longer paying for your employer’s new claims. So the need to get you out of there isn’t an issue anymore.

Workers’ compensation benefits are tax-free. This means you will not pay taxes on your weekly checks or on the settlement. Social Security Disability payments are taxable though – including the amounts offset by workers’ compensation. This is technical so you should call an attorney or your tax advisor.

No. Your only avenue is through workers’ compensation. It is possible in some instances to get an additional 10% penalty against your employer if you can prove that they willfully failed to comply with any statutory requirement. While the law doesn’t specifically state, this it is generally understood to refer to a safety statute.

In practice, we have seen the Industrial Commission enforce this law very, very rarely. Understand that “willful failure” is a high standard to meet. That is far more serious that “should have known” or even “stupidity” and “reckless behavior.”

The only exception to this is if your employer was required by law to carry workers’ compensation insurance and failed to do so. The employer cannot then claim the Workers’ Compensation Act as a defense in a lawsuit. As a practical matter, this comes up most often in the construction industry.

You may absolutely sue a third party – that is someone, other than your employer, who negligently, recklessly, or willfully injured you.

The catch to this is that your employer may also sue the third party in an effort to recoup the money that has been paid out on your worker’s compensation claim. There are very technical laws regarding who gets first chance at this and how the money is distributed. These are more technical than can be explained here as they are quite detailed.

Generally, your workers’ compensation claim will be handled first and possibly resolved prior to the personal injury claim being file or at least resolved. While it isn’t required to use the same law firm for both claims it is often helpful to do so. Additionally, it is generally best for the attorneys handling your personal injury claim to be involved at least partially in your workers’ compensation settlement. There are certain ways of settling the workers’ compensation claim that will give you more money in your personal injury case.