When you have a work related injury it is important you keep the following in mind:
- Don’t miss your doctor appointments. Missing an appointment due to illness or a family emergency is one thing, missing appointments continuously is another which can drastically affect your workers’ compensation benefits. Cooperating with your doctors tells others that you are attempting to get better.
- Cooperate with vocational rehabilitation. In today’s economy it is tough to find a job when you are 100% it is even tougher when you have a disability. Make sure you are doing everything you can to find a job. One way of showing that to others is by cooperating with vocational rehabilitation.
- Return phone calls to your attorney. An attorney is there to assist you along the way. The only way this can occur is if you stay in contact with your attorney. Be proactive and keep your attorney up to date. Make sure you advise your attorney of changes such as loss of a job, a different job, new place of residence, change in physician, surgery recommendation, etc.
- Don’t give a recorded statement. Let me say this again, Don’t give a recorded statement.
- Be honest. Don’t embellish. Tell your doctor where you have complaints but do not exaggerate.
Don’t be afraid about retaining an attorney to assist you. In work comp an attorney does not get paid unless you recover. Most attorneys, including myself, offer free consultations for injured workers.
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Jerry Sisk, Esq.
For many, the thought of retaining an attorney can be scary. Many think they cannot afford a lawyer to help them obtain workers’ compensation benefits. But under Minnesota’s workers’ compensation laws, you can hire an attorney at no cost to you.
Under Minnesota workers’ compensation statute, the attorney only recovers fees if they recover benefits for the employee.
The fee is limited to 25% of the first $4,000 in benefits recovered, and 20% of remaining. And the maximum fee is $13,000.The workers’ compensation judge may approve greater fees in special cases.
But if an employer and insurer deny your claim and you win your case, the employer and insurer must reimburse you 30% of all attorney fees over the first $250 awarded.
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Permanent partial disability
Workers Compensation benefits are different than damages you might receive if you are involved in another type of personal injury. Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) Benefits are benefits that are intended to compensate an injured worker for permanent loss or impairment of a bodily function.
In order to make the permanency uniform, the permanent partial disability rules have been developed. In some situations, these guidelines require there be some objective measures (i.e. MRI, CT scans, etc.) to form a basis for a PPD rating.
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Maximum Medical Improvment MMI
Maximum medical improvement (MMI) can be a confusing term to injured workers who are trying to obtain workers compensation benefits in Minnesota. Especially, when the injured worker has been told they are at maximum medical improvement but continue to have pain complaints and problems.
MMI is a term given by physicians/doctors in Minnesota workers’ compensation cases to assign a date where “no further significant recovery from or significant lasting improvement to a personal injury can reasonably be anticipated, based upon reasonable medical probability, irrespective and regardless of subjective complaints of pain.”
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When you have a work related injury it is important you keep the following in mind:
