Workers' Compensation Attorney

I have included a graphic to clarify what happens when the treating doctor tells the injured worker that he is "stable and ratable".   I have divided injured workers who are stable and ratable into two groups, depending on whether the injured worker is released to go back to work full duty, or whether the injured worker has permanent work restrictions.

If the injured worker has permanent work restrictions, then he is assigned a vocational rehabilitation counselor if the employer does not offer a permanent light duty job within 30 days of receiving permanent work restrictions from the treating physician.  Vocational rehabilitation benefits are started also.  (They are payable every two weeks and are the same amount as the temporary total disability check the injured worker has been receiving while out of work.)  Even though the vocational rehabilitation counselor will not know how much retraining the injured worker will receive until after the permanent partial disability percentage is determined, the counselor will start meeting with the injured worker to discuss potential programs.  Alternatively, the injured worker may receive a vocational rehabilitation lump sum buy-out instead of participating in a vocational rehabilitation retraining program. How much the insurer will offer will depend on the percentage of impairment.

This week I visited the Las  Vegas Professional Institute of Technology & Accounting (LV-PITA) to get a first-hand impression of the school’s retraining programs, to pop in on a few classes, meet some instructors, and to meet director Laurie Clemens. I like to personally acquaint myself with the doctors, vocational counselors, nurse case managers, and even the adjusters who will be major players on my clients’ claims.  LV-PITA was provisionally licensed last June and expects its permanent accreditation from the state after its first year in operation.  The school is located in the Fountain View Business Park at Decatur, near Rochelle. 

Programs offered include accounting, basic computer training, networking, various network technologies, PC repair, and software applications used by office management staff and computer software specialists.  Click on this link  for more information on on certification programs and course specifics.

Laurie Clemens is an attractive, vivacious blonde with who exudes positive energy.  I will give you her official bio later.   About half of her 170 enrolled students are injured workers participating in retraining  programs paid by industrial insurers.  The other students are mostly older individuals who are referred by various other state and federal agencies that provide funds for vocational retraining.  LV-PITA also generously provides free  computer and job search classes by appointment every other Tuesday for all unemployed Las Vegans. 

I was particularly impressed that LV-PITA was working on retraining programs suitable for Hispanics who need help learning in Spanish before using more difficult materials in English.  The school also teaches the visually impaired, and has experimented and found the best method to teach those individuals who require a one-handed key board.  One of my former clients with a  severe hand injury and permanent impairment was very satisfied with the quality of instruction he received from the school.

Laurie is a native Las Vegan with many ties to the business community.  Having those long-standing connections gives her a tremendous advantage when placing students in internships and when helping graduating students with job placement in these difficult economic times.  Stay tuned for more information about LV-PITA and other schools I intend to visit myself.

Apparently,  the doctors who wrote the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Disease and Injury Causation  don’t know the answer to this week’s question  either.  Dr. J. Mark Melhorn and Dr. William Ackerman, editors of the 2008 book designed to help workers’ comp doctors answer medical causation questions, write that disability in the workplace is rampant in the United States.  These docs state in their Foreword that injured workers with poor genetic makeups and preexisting psychological problems share the blame for the work disability epidemic with plaintiffs’ lawyers. They write, " The attorneys need to understand that by encouraging the worker to remain off work rather than getting back into the work place, they are actually doing damage to their client." 

I wholeheartedly agree that any Nevada attorney who encourages their client to remain off work unnecessarily is doing a great disservice to their client.  But are there any work comp attorneys in Nevada advising their clients to stay home longer than necessary?  I hope not, because there is no relationship between how long an injured worker is off work for his injury and his permanent partial disability award at the end of the claim.  

 There is no financial advantage to an injured worker in Nevada remaining  off work.  Most injured workers figure that out immediately.  If an injured worker is only getting two-thirds of his wages while he is off work, there is no financial gain to his staying at home.  Additionally,  the percentage of impairment and the final award at the end of the claim is not determined by how long an injured worker has been out of work. ( For more information on how awards are determined, see the articles in this blog on permanent partial disability awards.)

Unfortunately, some of the medical providers who treat  injured workers in Nevada do not understand that the vast majority of workers’ compensation claimants are  hard-working people who want to return to work as quickly as possible.  If an injured worker is out of work for a lengthy period of time, that person will invariably lose money the longer they remain off work.   Any attorney who encourages his client to stay off work unnecessarily does not understand Nevada law.  It would be great if the doctors treating injured workers knew a few things about Nevada law also, so that they do not erroneously think that a  patient  who tells his doctor that he cannot physically return to work yet is profiting from the system. 

Three people who met with me for a free consultation last week all told me that they thought the best time to hire a workers compensation lawyer to help them with their claim was right before they were scheduled for a permanent partial disability evaluation.   Two told me that they had had  free consultations with other attorneys in the past, and those attorneys were not interested in representing them while they were still actively  treating for their injuries.  Those other lawyers told them to come back when they  were finished getting treatment and were ready for  a settlement. The third person had relied on advice from a co-worker who thought that a lawyer was only necessary to obtain the best settlement.  Unfortunately, those three people were given  bad information  on when to hire a lawyer.  The best time to hire a lawyer, after meeting with one you like, is at the beginning of your claim.  Here’s why:

1. Get More Legal Service for the Fee You Pay

Most attorneys charge a contingency fee from the permanent partial disability award at the end of the claim.  That fee  is  usually the same regardless of whether you hire the lawyer at the beginning of your claim, or right before you have the evaluation to determine your settlement.  If you hire a lawyer who actually provides a valuable service in assisting you on your claim each step of the way, you get more legal service for the attorney fee by hiring the attorney at the beginning of your claim.   If an attorney is only interested in representing you at the end of your claim, that is a red flag, and should alert you that the attorney is only wanting a quick fee for providing very little help. 

2. A Work Comp Attorney Should Guide You Each Step on Your Claim

If you hire a lawyer who is committed to helping you on your claim, and is not solely interested in getting his fee from the settlement, you have someone who is experienced in selecting the best doctors for your care.  You also have someone to make sure that your benefit checks are the correct and highest amount, and that they are paid on time.  An experienced work comp lawyer will also guide you through any employment issues while you are treating, and will get a jump start on the retraining process if it appears that the client will not be able to return to her old job. 

3. The Most Important Decisions Are Made at the Beginning of the Claim

The most important service I provide as a workers compensation lawyer is making sure that my clients get the best possible medical care as quickly as possible.  My clients are normal, honest, hard-working people who like their jobs.  They just want to get their injuries fixed and to get back to work and their regular lives. It  is at the beginning of the claim that injured workers decide whether they need a specialist, whether they want to change doctors, whether to have surgery, whether to have a second opinion, and what other treatment options are available.   The beginning of the claim is when insurers deny additional body parts on the claim and deny treatment or surgeries that your doctor requests.  Insurers will  try to usurp control over what happens to the injured worker’s body at the beginning of the claim.

4. The Best Lawyers Practice Preventative Law

It is always easier to prevent a problem from happening on a claim than it is to try to fix a problem that has happened.  By the time most injured workers consult with a lawyer on their claim, they have spent many frustrating  months  trying to handle problems by themselves. Injured workers are at a terrible disadvantage when dealing with adjusters, because injured workers do not know what their rights are and whether the adjuster is acting properly on their claim.    A lot can go wrong very quickly, and the time to file an appeal on any determination made by the insurer is only 70 days.

5. What to Do If You Have Waited Until the End of Your Claim

If you have tried to go it alone on your claim, are fed up, and want to hire a lawyer now because you are concerned about the settlement process, get a free consultation with an attorney. You might be able to negotiate a lower attorney fee if you are just about to get a rating evaluation , and  you don’t have ongoing problems or potential future problems with your claim. . Be sure to ask whether the attorney will be attending the rating with you.  Also ask whether the attorney will be helping you with any vocational rehabilitation issues, and whether the attorney will be available in the future to help you reopen your claim for more medical care.  Find out whether an actual attorney is handling your claim, particularly if you hire a celebrity attorney law firm.  You might also ask whether the attorney is able to predict  what your percentage of impairment should be.  Those attorneys who are honest and who care about their reputations among injured workers will give you a straight answer.  Finally, there is a ton of information about the rating process in my blogs and on my website.  

Get Well Again Soon!

Last week the Nevada Supreme Court unanimously decided that rating doctors evaluating injured workers with spinal injuries can add one to three additional percentage points to the permanent partial disability award if the rating doctor finds that the spinal injury has substantially impaired activities of daily living (ADL’s). The Nevada Self-Insurers Association had filed a lawsuit naming the Nevada Attorney for Injured Workers and the Nevada Division of Industrial Relations, arguing that  a section of the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment allowing for impairment of ADL’s  violated Nevada law.  A district court judge agreed with the Self Insurers, and entered an order back in June 2008 that allowed insurers to withhold payment of that portion of an injured worker’s award for ADL’s until the Nevada Supreme Court decided the appeal.  Injured workers were then put in the unfair position of having to wait until the Nevada Supreme Court decided the case if they wanted to accept their award in a lump sum payment.  Most injured workers could not wait and ended up losing their percentage points for ADL’s so that they could accept their permanent partial disability awards immediately.  

Click on this link to read the complete decision by the Nevada Supreme Court.  If you are an injured worker who chose to wait for the Nevada Supreme Court to decide this case and did not accept your PPD award in a lump sum, you should contact your adjuster if you do not receive a new PPD offer that includes the ADL’s award within the next 30 days.  The Division of Industrial Relations has notified all third-party administrators that they are to comply with the Nevada Supreme Court’s decision.   Click these links for more information on how permanent partial disability awards are calculated, or information on how to contest an award and get a second rating.

Si usted es un trabajador lastimado y preferiría leer en español un anuncio de blog particular, o un artículo en mi centro de información de mi website, por favor dejarme saber.   Mientras tanto, yo no puedo traducir cada articulo o blog que yo escribo en ingles, pero si puedo acomedir un pedido particular.   Usted también puede pedir una copia gratis de mi Guía de Compensación de Nevada para Trabajadores Lastimados, en la cual ya la he traducido en español.  Hable a mi oficina al (702) 699-5336.

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The Health Care Quarterly report in the recent issue of "Las Vegas In Business" has some good news for injured workers deciding which retraining program is most likely to lead to actual employment in the future. Health care employment was up 2,300 jobs from last year according to a research analyst.  The health care industry is recession-resistant because these are crucial jobs and because the health care industry is funded by either insurance or government programs.  The industry  expects more jobs with the opening of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. 

Health care employees generally earn above-average wages depending on their level of training.  While state budget cuts in Nevada are affecting health care jobs also, and no one knows how the health care industry will be affected with federal health care reform, these jobs are still a solid career choice.

There are several vocational schools in Las Vegas that offer health care job training.  Talk to your vocational rehab counselor, and your attorney, about which schools are reputable and which assist their students in job placement.  Make sure you visit several schools and sit in on a few classes before deciding which school and which retraining program is best for you.

 After you are enrolled in a retraining program,  immediately  start thinking ahead to when the retraining program will end.  Only 28 days of benefits are paid when the formal retraining program concludes, and if you are not successful in finding a job right away , you are left without any income.   That means that you need to begin job search efforts before the school portion of the program ends.  Click on this link where  I found some good suggestions for networking and using existing contacts for referrals to potential employers who may be hiring.

Many times  an injured worker does not realize that other parts of the body have been  injured when he or she is first getting medical care for the most obvious injury and when completing the C-4 claim form.  Directly above the signature line on the C-4 Claim for Compensation form is a boxed area for the injured worker to write what parts of the body were injured.  When the claims adjuster receives the C-4 form, the adjuster notes what the employee says was injured with  what the doctor writes as the diagnosed and treated  injury on the lower portion of the C-4 form. 

The adjuster then  uses the information on the C-4 form, as well as any  available medical records, when sending the  Notice of Claim Acceptance letter.  Most adjusters will state exactly what body parts are accepted on that Notice of Claim Acceptance.  At the bottom of that letter, the adjuster will also tell the injured worker that he or she has 70 days to request a hearing if there is something he or she disagrees with in the letter.  The majority of injured workers who receive a Notice of Claim Acceptance do not carefully read that letter, and do not take any action to make sure that the adjuster sends another letter including any body parts that are not mentioned in the Notice of Claim Acceptance.

Problems arise when the injured worker tries to get medical treatment for a body part that is not specifically mentioned in the Notice of Claim Acceptance.   Adjusters often deny requests for necessary treatment to an additional or different body part weeks or months after the claim is accepted when diagnostic testing reveals an injury to an additional body part.  

Fortunately, the last legislature recognized that injured workers are being denied necessary medical treatment by adjusters taking advantage of injured workers who do not file appeals from a Notice of Claim Acceptance letter that lists accepted body parts.  A recent amendment to NRS 616C.065, effective October 1, 2009,  states that the failure of the insurer to indicate the acceptance or denial of a claim for a part of the body or condition does not constitute a denial or acceptance thereof.   That means that if an injured worker specifically requests that an additional or different body part be included on the claim, the insurer  must make a new determination and give appeal rights again.  The insurer cannot simply state that  a Notice of Claim Acceptance letter was sent and the appeal time to contest the listed body parts has run.

 Even with the recent amendment to NRS 616C.065, an injured worker should immediately request that a Notice of Claim Acceptance letter be corrected if all affected body parts are not listed.  If the injured worker does not realize that additional body parts were injured until much later, then the injured worker should request in writing that the adjuster include the body part.  If the adjuster fails to take action, the injured worker may file an appeal after 30 days from sending his written request to the adjuster.  If the adjuster denies the request to include another body part, the injured worker should promptly file an appeal on the form provided with the denial letter.

Unless lawmakers in Washington act by February 28, 2010, the jobs bill passed in December that extended long-term unemployment insurance benefits and that gave a COBRA extension will expire.  With the unemployment in Nevada at an all-time high, this is terrible news  for workers who have been unemployed for a long time.  Read more about the AFL-CIO’s jobs plan to address this problem and for information on how to contact legislators to urge them to act on legislation now.