In New York, most employees are covered by workers’ compensation in the event they are injured in a workplace accident or develop an occupational disease. However, this does not mean that all workers’ compensation claims are “approved” seamlessly and that all workers receive benefits after being hurt during the course of their employment.
Workers’ compensation claims often pass the approval process and result in the awarding of benefits, but that is notalways the case. Sometimes, a claim is disputed by the employer’s insurance company. Why would this happen? Here are some examples:
- The insurance company does not believe that your injury is job-related. Instead, the insurance company believes it happened outside of work, or an alleged occupational disease is not related to your job.
- The insurance company believes you are “faking” the whole claim in an effort to get paid to sit home all day.
- The insurance company believes you were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or both, during the alleged accident.
- The insurance company believes you were not in your right mind during the accident and you were trying to hurt yourself intentionally.
If the insurance company disputes or denies your workers’ compensation claim for any reason, it’s critical to secure a workers’ compensation attorney to represent you at the hearing before the New York Workers’ Compensation Board. Legal counsel can be indispensable when it comes to disputing a complex case and answering a worker’s questions.
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BOARD HEARINGS
If your claim is disputed, it will go before a judge, who will listen to your testimony and review your wages, medical records and the evidence related to the case. After the hearing is held, the judge will decide if you should be approved for workers’ compensation benefits, or if the insurance company’s decision should be upheld.
At Katz, Leidman, Freund & Herman, our Long Island workers’ compensation lawyers have extensive experience handling workers’ comp disputes, hearings, and appeals. To schedule a free case evaluation, call (888) 250-5427 today.