3 Critical Duties of a Compensation Lawyer

Accidents in the workplace can be debilitating and easily deprive you of the ability to fend for yourself and your family. Some of the workplace injuries are caused by an employer's failure to provide a safe working environment. Since employers are bound by law to compensate employees injured at the workplace, some might be tempted to keep such compensation to a minimum. It is the reason why injured employees need the services of a compensation lawyer. However, it is crucial to understand what a compensation lawyer does to ensure that you get the right representation. This article explores three vital duties of a compensation lawyer.

Gather Medical Records

Medical records are critical for the successful processing of workplace claims. The reason is that medical data provides firsthand evidence of an injury. For instance, when a pre-existing condition leads to an injury in a workplace, an employee is not eligible for compensation. Therefore, an employer might attempt to explore the relationship between a workplace injury and a pre-existing condition. Without previous and current medical records, your compensation lawyer will find it difficult to challenge your employer's perspective. Therefore, compensation lawyers have to do everything within their power to gather all the necessary medical records, and you must assist.

Create a Timeline of Events

When a severe accident occurs in a workplace, the chaos often makes it difficult to document the happenings accurately. Therefore, it is easy to leave out critical details about issues such as first aid administration. For instance, most incident reports are sketchy and do not have a record of accurate events following an accident. Using such a statement will not help your quest for benefits compensation. Therefore, a compensation lawyer must do their best to create an accurate timeline of events using the raw incident report. It helps them to understand what happened during and after an accident and whether the actions taken were sufficient under the reasonable man doctrine.

Estimate Compensation Claims

One of the first questions injured employees ask compensation lawyers is 'how much compensation will I get?' The ability to estimate an injured employee's claims accurately gives compensation lawyers solid grounds to negotiate a settlement with an employer and an insurance company. That said, compensation lawyers look at certain factors when calculating compensation claims. These factors include current wages, the extent of injuries, extent of permanent disability (if any), and cost of past and future medical treatment.

For more information, reach out to compensation lawyers.

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