Concord is only a 40-mile drive to the heart of San Francisco. You can drive or take the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train to commute to work, dine out, shop, or just hang out and act like a tourist in San Francisco. On the other hand, you can enjoy staying home and taking advantage of what Concord has to offer: a water park, an amusement park, hiking the Contra Costa Canal Trail, and more. Just see CA Workers Compensation Attorneys.
If you live in Concord, you likely know that the median home price is approximately $426.000, which is more than twice the national average. The good news is that for the approximately 126,000 people who live there the median income is also more than the median income in the U.S. But, the high median income is of little comfort if you have been injured at work and are receiving no income at all.
Applying for Workers’ Compensation Benefits
Workers’ compensation laws are the same for those who live in Concord as they are for those who live in any other city in California. All employers must provide insurance coverage for their employees.
The way it works is that employers who are injured can file a claim for benefits to cover their lost wages and medical expenses without needing to prove their employer was negligent. The employer’s insurance provides benefits without being allowed to assert that an employee was negligent and therefore responsible for his or her own injury.
There are detailed requirements. If you are injured at work, or suffer from a work-related illness, you must notify your employer within a certain number of days after your injury or illness. You must seek medical treatment and, depending on your employer and your specific benefit plan, your employer may require you to seek treatment from a specific physician or health care facility.
If your injury is very minor, requiring limited medical treatment, and very little time off of work, you can likely handle the claim yourself. But, if you need extensive medical treatment, and you expect to be off of work for a lengthy period of time, you likely need the assistance of a workers’ compensation attorney.
At Appel Law Firm LLP, we have the experience you need to have on your side. We guide your claim through the system while we fight for you to have the benefits to which you are legally entitled.
Main Reasons for Denial of Workers’ Compensation Claims
At our Appel Law Firm, we have identified some of the most common reasons claims are denied. They include the employer or the insurer arguing that:
- The injury was not incurred during the course of your employment (AOE/COE). This occurs more often when the injury occurred off of the actual worksite. One example might be if you were driving your car own car, but doing an errand for your boss when another vehicle crashed into you. You may need to prove you were driving in the course of your employment.
- The injury or illness was solely due to a pre-existing condition. The argument will be that your pre-existing condition was not made worse by anything to do with your employment.
- Your emotional or mental stress is not work-related. This is a common argument made by insurance companies as they try to avoid paying a claim by arguing that your mental stress is caused solely by factors outside of your work environment.
- Your injury was due to your intoxication. California allows employers to refuse to pay a claim if a worker was intoxicated if, and only if, the intoxication was the cause of the injury. It is not enough just to prove the worker was intoxicated.
- You and another coworker were horsing around. If you and a coworker were indeed “rough-housing” or “just horsing around,” you may be barred from collecting on your claim.
- You did not promptly seek medical treatment. This can lead to an argument that you were not really injured. You can rebut this with evidence from an expert that your particular injury or illness does not cause immediate symptoms, but the need for medical treatment arises later.
- You gave different stories about your injury. This raises a suspicion that your injury may have not been work-related and you are trying to cover something up.
A denial of a claim for any of these reasons can be appealed to the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB).
For any issue regarding your workers’ compensation claim, contact one of our workers’ compensation attorneys at The Appel Law Firm LLP. We offer a complimentary consultation where we can discuss your claim and determine the next steps that need to be taken.
