On the Job Injuries and Worker's Compensation

We're interested in representing individuals or their loved ones who have suffered injuries while working on their job. Generally, the most common injuries fall under our state worker's compensation laws. Others involve the Federal Employees Liability Act (FELA) and still others apply to the Jones Act and other maritime injuries. (Click here for maritime injuries) And there are more.

One of the most overlooked sources of compensation when a workmen has suffered an on the job injury is in the area of defective products. Too many injured workers limit the scope of their recovery simply to worker's compensation payments. They fail to look at the broad picture and sometimes that's through a feeling of guilt. They feel that they were responsible for causing the injury, especially when dealing with machinery and equipment. (Click here for Defective Products)

The Mississippi Worker's Compensation Law:

This law was first enacted in 1948 and represented a substantial departure from the English common law that was generally followed in most of the United States in that it imposed "no fault liability" for injury to a worker. Prior to that time, if your arm was cut off by a saw at a saw mill and it was your fault because you simply got too close you either relied on the good graces of your employer to help you out or you simply found yourself without a job and went home with nothing in your pocket. The stated purpose of the act was to relieve society (the taxpayers) of the burden of supporting injured employees in industrial accidents and put the responsibility on his or her employer. But there was a trade off because an employee was then prevented from suing his employer for negligence in all but willful injury cases.

The members of the worker's compensation commission consist of three individuals. Theoretically, one is appointed to represent industry, one is appointed to represent labor and the third is appointed as a neutral. In theory, it was envisioned that an injured employee would not need to hire an attorney to represent his or her interests and the insurance carrier for the employer as well as the employer itself would treat everyone fairly and the case would be settled, the employee would be fully compensated for his or her injury, and everyone would go on about their business. Well, greed being greed, that simply isn't what happened and the dream of justice and fairness held by the injured employees who gave up their right to sue their employers for negligently injuring them turned into a nightmare of injustice. Because of the injustice and efforts to defeat your fair claims, employees had to seek the protection and advice of experienced attorneys familiar with the traps that were being laid by the employer and its insurance companies to prevent an injured employee from securing fair compensation. If you have suffered a serious injury on the job and plan on representing yourself to receive fair compensation, you must still believe in the tooth fairy.

If an employer has 5 or more workers or operatives regularly employed in the same business or in and about the same establishment under contract or hire, whether written or implied, then the workers compensation law is supposed to protect the employee by providing insurance coverage. There are certain exceptions but generally, the employer having 5 or more employees is supposed to secure a worker's compensation insurance policy and notify the worker's compensation commission of its existence. That notice is also supposed to be posted in the work place. The problems begin arising when the employer simply does not purchase worker's compensation insurance. That's when you really need help.

One of our hardest fought battles was to get the employee the right to pick his or her own doctor. Up until that time the employer simply sent the employee to the "company doctor" who soon found that there was really nothing wrong with the employee and returned the employee to work at which time the employer found some way to fire that employee. When it was later discovered that the employee had some permanent injury, the law known as the "Statute Of Limitations" that states that a worker's compensation claim must be filed with the commission within a certain amount of time, had expired and the employee was left crippled, jobless, and facing bankruptcy.

If you have been injured and come under Mississippi Worker's Compensation law, you have the right to pick your own doctor to treat you. Don't give up that valuable right or you may find yourself in the hands of a "company doctor" who is being paid by the company insurance carrier and if you want to change to your own doctor the company insurance carrier will take the position that you have already chosen your (their) doctor and if you want another one, you will have to pay for that new doctor out of your own pocket. You need an experienced attorney to guide you and protect you from the start. And the "start" is when you leave the company's "first aid" clinic or the emergency room before you see that second doctor to which you were referred.

Click here for What You Need to Know to Protect Yourself

Our fees under the Mississippi Worker's Compensation Act:

The fees for legal services that can be charged on Mississippi worker's compensation claims are set by law. We generally handle these cases on a "contingent fee" basis. That means that you owe us no attorney's fee unless we collect compensation for you. The contingent fee from the time we take your case until it is either settled or decided by the workers compensation commission is 25% of the gross amount awarded to you. If the case is appealed then the contingent fee set by law is 33 1/3% of the gross amount awarded to you by the courts or the amount of the settlement if your case is settled while your case is on appeal. Of course, you will be expected to reimburse us for any expenses incurred by us in your behalf in addition to the legal fee.

Of course, different rules apply to federal worker's compensation, The Federal Employees Liability Act, the Jones Act and maritime injuries. Be careful out there because you are simply no match for the sharks.

Click here for Maritime Injuries