Articles

Negotiating Settlement for Workers’ Compensation

by Kristen White Blogger

If you have suffered an injury or illness as a result of a workplace accident or your work environment, it is only natural that you accept the workers’ compensation settlement provided by the insurance company. However, it must be noted that in order for you to accept a workers’ compensation settlement agreement, the settlement must be fair. This article will discuss getting a fair settlement amount from your workers’ compensation settlement.

 

It is important to be aware that an employee can negotiate a settlement with his or her workers’ compensation insurance company if he or she was injured at work and has a type of lasting impairment. An employee can negotiate the type of workers’ compensation to receive. Instead of receiving a weekly permanent disability payment, an injured employee can negotiate for a lump sum settlement instead. Further, an employee can negotiate an agreement for a structured settlement in which he or she can receive payments over a period of time. If an injured employee chooses not to accept a settlement with his or her workers’ compensation insurance company he or she has two options:

1. Accept what the insurance company is offering and take weekly permanent disability payments for as long as the insurance company has indicated it will pay you or

2. Proceed to a hearing for trial with the insurance company to try and win higher weekly payments or higher lump sum payments.

However, it must be noted that if an injured employee chooses to go to trial or hearing, the judge could end up paying less than the insurance company offered. 

One of the advantages of a settlement is that it guarantees your benefits without the risk of a trial. Another advantage of accepting a settlement is that it saves you the time it takes to wait for a hearing and the associated anxiety of attending a hearing.

The disadvantages associated with accepting an insurance settlement is that you may give up your right to future medical treatment for your injury. If there is a high possibility that you will need surgery or expensive medications in the future, you should not waive this right by settling for a certain amount. In the event that you do settle this right and you end up needing medical care, you may run into challenges getting your health plan to cover it. Another disadvantage of accepting an upfront settlement is that the settlement money might be spent right away leaving you no weekly payments to help with the possibility of lower wages in the future.

It is important to consider whether each of the following types of benefits should be a part of your settlement:

  • Permanent partial disability - if your work-related injury or illness results in a permanent impairment you may be entitled to a payment of permanent partial disability
  • Permanent total disability – with respect to this type of disability, hire a workers’ compensation attorney in Anchorage Ak
  • Temporary partial or total disability - this is the amount for wages lost while recovering from your injury
  • Medical treatment - includes unpaid bills for medical treatment and future medical expenses


If you want more information on attorneys in Anchorage, the author of this article recommends Crowson Law Group.


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About Kristen White Committed   Blogger

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Joined APSense since, August 19th, 2016, From Chicago, United States.

Created on Aug 28th 2017 04:35. Viewed 3,957 times.

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