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Workers Compensation Legal Advice – Our Top Five Tips.
Getting the right workers compensation legal advice can make a significant difference to the amount of compensation you receive. We get literally thousands of injured workers calling us for advice every year, and many are surprised by what we tell them. For example, many injured workers who have made successful workers compensation claims are surprised to learn they’re entitled to additional benefits or lump sums they didn’t know about.
Even if your case seems straightforward, getting the right legal advice could uncover additional benefits, make the process go much more smoothly, and ultimately ensure you get maximum compensation. This article covers our top five expert tips on finding the right legal advice for your workers compensation claim.
Getting the right workers compensation legal advice – how we uncovered $650k for Mark.
Mark contacted us to check if he was eligible to make a medical negligence claim. He’d had a stroke and was taken to hospital, but he slipped over while trying to stand up from his bed and injured his shoulder. He had been told by a number of lawyers he didn’t have a claim, but he called Law Partners, and we took the time to ask questions and understand the whole situation. His shoulder injury was minor, and he wasn’t eligible for a medical negligence claim, but it wasn’t the end of the road.
We discovered that Mark had suffered a foot injury when a stack of wooden beams had collapsed on him at work and that injury hadn’t been treated properly. Over the course of six months, it had worsened and eventually caused Mark’s stroke. While he couldn’t make a medical negligence claim, we made a workers compensation claim on Mark’s behalf, and his final settlement came to $650,000. Mark didn’t even realise that he needed workers compensation legal advice, and if he hadn’t called and spoken to us, he would have missed out on the compensation he was entitled to.
Tip 1- Don’t rely on generic online advice – including AI.
The risk with doing online searches or relying on AI-generated answers to your workers compensation questions is you’ll be presented with general advice that may not apply to your situation or may simply be incorrect. For example:
- Out-of-date information – a lot of the legal information you find online may have been written some time ago, and the relevant laws may have changed
- Advice that doesn’t apply to you – for example, workers compensation entitlements are different for some occupations
- Generative AI programs like Chat GPT can interpret information incorrectly and give you the wrong advice
Read on to find out how to avoid generic and incorrect advice.
Tip 2- The wrong advice can cause you to miss out on compensation you’re entitled to.
The wrong legal advice can be worse than no advice at all; advice that doesn’t consider every element of your situation or doesn’t cover the full impact of your injuries can lead you down the wrong path.
For example: If you have a ‘wear and tear’ injury like a bad back from years of heavy lifting, the general advice on time limits might say you’re too late to claim. However, speaking to a workers compensation lawyer might reveal that although the damage to your back started many years ago, the ‘date of discovery’ is more recent, so you still have a valid claim. This is quite a common situation – many of our clients with long-term wear and tear injuries are surprised to learn they can still make a claim.
This is just one example of how the wrong advice can lead you astray. There’s never a bad time to get advice from a specialist workers compensation lawyer; even if you’re worried you’ve left it too late, it’s worth making the call to find out what you can claim.
Find out how much you can claim.
Get startedCall 13 15 15 or chat to us now for free advice
Chat nowTip 3- Speak to the right doctor.
Not all doctors are familiar with the process of making an assessment for a workers compensation claim, and with inexperienced doctors, there’s a risk they’ll leave out important details in your assessment. It’s also important to find a doctor who specialises in injuries like yours – this can make a big difference to your workers compensation claim.
At Law Partners we have a network of hundreds of GPs, specialists, and medical professionals we can recommend to make sure you receive the right care and assessment. We can also cover the upfront cost of these assessments for you or get the insurer to cover them. Early treatment can be the difference between struggling with your injuries on a long-term basis or making a full recovery. You can call 13 15 15 to get free advice on how we can help.
Tip 4- Get advice that considers your whole personal situation, not just your injuries.
Speaking to a lawyer who specialises in cases like yours and takes time to get to know you personally will make a significant difference to the outcome of your claim. While some firms will simply process your claim, a good lawyer will want to get to know you and your family personally, to understand how your injuries have impacted your life. This is the only way to be confident you’re getting the best advice for your claim and uncovering all your entitlements.
For more information about finding the right fit, see our article about the questions you should ask a workers compensation lawyer.
An example of how the right advice can help you: if you’ve injured your right shoulder at work then you might already know that you can make a claim for that injury. What you might not know, and what workers compensation advice from a specialist could help uncover, are additional benefits for things that your original injury has contributed to. For example, if your left shoulder has also started to hurt because you’ve been overcompensating and relying on it, or you’ve had a bad reaction to medication that you’re on to treat your original injuries, then you may be able to claim for these additional complications.
Tip 5- Talk to a specialist workers compensation lawyer – even if it’s just for free advice.
Some personal injury lawyers take on a range of claim types. But a specialist personal injury lawyer who only handles workers compensation claims will have more experience with claims like yours and is likely to get you a better result.
Even if you’re not sure if you want to use a lawyer, it makes sense to at least get some free advice – you might be surprised by what you learn.
You can call 13 15 15 and get free advice over the phone from one of our workers compensation lawyers.
Where can I get specialised workers compensation advice?
At Law Partners, we offer free legal advice over the phone, and we’re also happy to organise an in-depth, face-to-face meeting or video call for a full discussion. If you choose to work with us, we’ll take time to get to know you personally, to make sure we uncover all your entitlements. We work on a no win, no fee basis, and we win over 99% of our cases.
Chantille Khoury
Principal
A Doyle’s Guide listed personal injury law professional and one of the country’s preeminent workers compensation specialists, with over 15 years’ experience in delivering optimal outcomes to injured Australians.
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