Ohio Workers’ Comp Lawyer Michelle Martin

How to Navigate the Aftermath of a Workplace Injury

Video Transcript:

Michelle Martin:

Workers' compensation is just that, it’s to protect the workers who are injured on the job and to allow them to treat without the fear that they're gonna rack up a bunch of medical bills and that the employer is gonna then deny them.

Rob Rosenthal:

If you're injured on the job, how do you know if you have a workers comp claim and/or maybe a third party claim? Well, we're gonna find out and sort all that out right now, because that's what we're going to Ask the Lawyer. Hi again everybody, I'm Rob Rosenthal with askthelawyers.com, and my guest is Ohio attorney Michelle Martin. I wanna remind you right off the top, if you wanna ask Michelle questions about your situation, it's easy to do, just go to askthelawyers.com, click the button at the top of the page that says, Ask a Lawyer. And you can ask away right there, it doesn't cost you anything to ask your questions and get some answers. Michelle, it's good to see you again as always. Thank you for helping us out.

Michelle Martin:

Great to see you as well Rob, always a pleasure.

Rob Rosenthal:

Let's just start with a little definition, what's the difference between a workers' comp claim and an injury claim for on-the-job injuries like a third party claim?

Michelle Martin:

That's a great question, Rob. There are quite a few differences. Both of course are civil litigation claims, civil claims that you can bring against a negligent party. The difference is whether or not that party is going to be your employer or a private third person. Of course, when you're dealing with the workers' compensation claim, you bring the claim against your employer claiming that they failed the standard of care or breach the standard of care in some manner, and as a result, you've been harmed. When you have a workers' comp claim there, there's lots of paperwork, and there's a very specific procedural and administrative documents that have to be filed and filed timely to make sure that your claim is heard and processed properly. This of course, is a little bit different from the personal injury track. That track allows your attorney of course, to speak with an adjuster, insurance adjuster or representative on your behalf and try to work through that claim to get an amicable solution and to build your litigation. So they're substantially different, but what I wanted to point out when I first started is that you start each one of them differently depending on who the harmed party is and who is the negligent party.

Rob Rosenthal:

Does it work differently? Are the laws different if it's an independent contractor versus a full-time employee, how does that work? 

Michelle Martin:

Absolutely, there are lots more obligations and rights and ties to the employee-employer relationship, substantially different from the independent contractor relationship. It's really important to get a knowledgeable attorney who can talk to you about whether or not you'll be classified as an employee or an employer, because again, the laws are different depending on what your classification type is, and you wanna talk to an attorney because even though you may think you have one type of working arrangement such as an independent contractor relationship, if in fact, your employer has certain types of responsibilities and oversight functions, that relationship can actually be interpreted as an employer-employee relationship, and so you wanna make sure you're getting with an attorney who can discuss what your rights and obligations are as a worker if you're injured on the job.

Rob Rosenthal:

It seems like... Some people probably think oh workers' comp, I can just handle that on my own. But it sounds like what you're saying is, if you do that, you may be leaving money on the table because you may not even realize you might have a third party claim.

Michelle Martin:

Oh, absolutely, the worker's compensation claims are very nuanced claims, they have lots of different holes where you can be as an injured worker, you have different rights that you can exercise where like you said, you may be leaving money on the table because a lot of the employers they wanna take care of their employees so they make sure if you are injured that you have all the resources possible available to you, and so if you have an attorney who specializes their practice on workers' compensation, they're able to get your case started right off the bat and really get you going and make sure that your family doesn't lag too much or miss out on a whole lot if you're injured when you're working. there's a lot of times you can't go back to work until you heal, so it's important to get someone who can get there and get things started.

Rob Rosenthal:

Sometimes those claims can be denied, too. If the insurer denies the claim, does that mean it's over and there's no hope?

Michelle Martin:

Oh, absolutely not. So let's say you are an injured worker who decided that you want it to go it alone, but you run into a roadblock, right? You are denied for either a service or some type of compensation, then you would get an attorney, of course, who would be able to appeal those denials for you and go through the proper channels to make sure that all of your rights are preserved and that you get all the compensation that you're entitled to... So yeah, if you are denied, then that's definitely a time when you don't wanna give up, you wanna reach out for an attorney who's gonna really fight for you and make sure that you're receiving all the compensation and the medical treatment that you need and deserve.

Rob Rosenthal:

Talk about undocumented workers, Michelle. Do they need to be concerned about contacting an attorney if they're injured on the job?

Michelle Martin:

No, they should be concerned if that attorney does not also have a good working relationship with a nice immigration attorney, it's one of the things that we do here at the law firm, at the Martin Law Firm, that we have good networking and working relationships with firms that don't practice in our practice area so that we're able to accommodate our clients that have multi-level issues, and so you should never be afraid to actually reach out to an attorney. That's one of the times you wanna make sure you reach out to an attorney, if no other time before, because you have multiple rights and multiple issues at stake. You wanna make sure you're protecting them and that your family is gonna be protected, so if you're an undocumented worker, you definitely need to reach out to an attorney, and one of the first questions you wanna ask is, if you need to seek out an immigration attorney, and/or if they have an attorney on staff who may practice immigration law, or if they have a good working relationship with an immigration law firm to make sure that that person is protected.

Rob Rosenthal:

What if someone can't afford their medical bills because of their on the job injury? Do they have options? What should they do?

Michelle Martin:

Absolutely, and so if you do have medical bills in which you're gonna get those medical bills. When you first have the injury on the job, you're gonna report what's called a first report of injury, and so that's the piece of paper that's filed when you get your first, when the incident parts occurs and you present at your first medical treatment, that doctor is gonna open up where that medical facility is gonna open up what's called the workers compensation claim, which will kinda be like a medical credit card, if you will, for the type of injury that we can rightfully say, happened and you can prove happened on the job. So once that particular injury has been accepted by the employer in the Bureau of Workers' Compensation as an injury related to the on-the-site incident, then that particular injury should be treated until you reach what's called maximum medical improvement, and so you shouldn't have any accumulated bills. The employer should be taking care of all those medical bills every time that you go and see a physician.

Rob Rosenthal:

Is there a time limit in which people need to make their injury claim? Is there certain any sort of time limits that they need to meet?

Michelle Martin:

Yes, and that is where the personal injury strays a little bit different from workers compensation. Personal injury, typically you have one to two years in which to bring a negligence claim against the tortfeasor. When you have a worker's compensation claim, those time limits are... They change all the... I'm sorry, the time that you have to bring the claim and to be compensated and to get the medical treatment, it definitely changes, it depends on the type of injury that you receive, when is the injury first reported, how is the injury first reported. And so those things can definitely change. You can have a worker's compensation claim that can last until infinity, as long as the employer expects that that injury is as a result of this the on the site incident. And so what that means is you may even have a permanent disability whereby you're treating for this injury from the date of the incident until the day that you die, so if your complaint is filed timely, if your first report of injury is filed timely, if your medical providers are submitting the proper paperwork using your legal advocate to the Bureau of Workers' Compensation there shouldn't be any lag in your treatment, and so you wouldn't necessarily be concerned with the timing, because worker's compensation is just that. It's to protect the workers who are injured on the job and to allow them to treat without the fear that they're gonna rack up a bunch of medical bills and that the employer is gonna then deny them from the actual injury yourself.

Rob Rosenthal:

Right. Lots of really helpful information, and also it's very clear to me now, you need to have somebody who understands how all this works to help you get through all that. Thank you so much for answering our questions, Michelle.

Michelle Martin:

Absolutely, any time, any time.

Rob Rosenthal:

That's gonna do it for this episode of Ask the Lawyer. My guest has been Ohio attorney Michelle Martin. Once again, to remind you, if you'd like to ask Michelle questions about your specific situation, go to askthelawyers.com, there's a button at the top of the screen that says, Ask a Lawyer and it'll walk you right through the very simple process right there. Thanks for watching. I'm Rob Rosenthal with Ask the Lawyers.

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