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If a job injury has kept you from working or left you needing medical care, a Mountain Home workers’ compensation lawyer at Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC can help you pursue benefits.
We handle denied claims, treatment disputes, unpaid wage benefits, and disagreements about whether an employee can return to work. Our six attorneys represent clients across North Carolina and South Carolina, and our firm has recovered more than $100 million.
Contact us for a free consultation with a North Carolina workers’ compensation lawyer.
Does Your Injury Qualify for Workers’ Compensation?
North Carolina workers’ compensation generally covers an injury by accident that arises out of and in the course of employment. You usually do not need to prove that your employer caused the accident or intended for you to be hurt.
A compensable accident may involve:
- Falling from a ladder, platform, or elevated surface.
- Slipping on a wet or obstructed floor.
- Being struck by equipment or falling materials.
- Suffering an injury while lifting, pulling, or moving an object.
- Being caught in or between machinery.
- Sustaining burns, electrical injuries, or chemical exposure.
- Being injured in a vehicle crash while performing job duties.
- Being assaulted because of a work-related risk.
The facts surrounding the injury still need to satisfy North Carolina law. An injury that happens at work is not automatically compensable if it has no connection to the employee’s duties or employment.
Back Injuries and Occupational Diseases Follow Different Rules
North Carolina law recognizes a back injury caused by a specific traumatic incident of assigned work. The worker should be able to identify when the incident occurred, even if it does not involve unusual movement or an external force.
Conditions that develop gradually may qualify as occupational diseases if the job placed the worker at a greater risk than the general public and the work caused or significantly contributed to the condition. Medical evidence is often needed to establish that connection.
A workers’ compensation attorney in Mountain Home can review conditions involving repetitive motion, chemical exposure, hearing loss, breathing problems, or other work-related disease claims under the correct legal standard.
Which Employers Must Carry Workers’ Compensation Insurance?
North Carolina generally requires businesses with three or more employees to carry workers’ compensation insurance or qualify as self-insured. Some industries and types of employment follow different coverage rules.
Questions can arise when an employer:
- Claims the worker is an independent contractor.
- Pays employees in cash.
- Uses temporary or staffing-agency workers.
- Fails to carry required insurance.
- Operates through several related businesses.
- Uses subcontractors to perform part of its work.
The label an employer gives you does not always determine whether you are legally an employee. We can review how the business controlled your work, how you were paid, and other facts relevant to your employment status.
Benefits Available After a Work Injury
Workers’ compensation does not provide the same damages as a personal injury lawsuit. It generally does not pay for pain and suffering, but it may cover medical care and part of the income you lose because of a compensable injury.
Available benefits may include:
- Medical treatment reasonably required to provide relief, improve your condition, or reduce your disability.
- Temporary total disability payments while you are unable to earn wages.
- Temporary partial disability payments when you return to work at lower earnings.
- Permanent partial disability benefits for qualifying impairment to certain body parts.
- Permanent total disability benefits for injuries that meet narrow statutory requirements.
- Vocational rehabilitation in qualifying cases.
- Death and burial benefits when a compensable injury or occupational disease causes an employee’s death.
The benefits available depend on your medical condition, ability to earn wages, and the legal status of the claim.
How North Carolina Calculates Weekly Disability Benefits
Temporary total disability payments are generally two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to the maximum compensation rate for the year of injury. Calculating the average weekly wage may require more than looking at your most recent paycheck.
The calculation may need to account for:
- Your earnings during the 52 weeks before the injury.
- Periods when you missed more than seven consecutive days.
- Overtime and qualifying wage allowances.
- Employment lasting fewer than 52 weeks.
- Seasonal or irregular work.
- Earnings of a similar employee when another method is needed.
No disability compensation is generally due for the first seven days you miss work unless your disability lasts longer than 21 days. Medical benefits are governed separately from this waiting period.
Filing Form 18 Protects Your Claim
Reporting the injury to your employer is not the same as filing a claim with the North Carolina Industrial Commission. An injured employee generally files Form 18 to formally initiate the claim.
Your employer may file Form 19 to report the accident. That filing does not replace your Form 18 and does not file the claim for you.
A work injury claim is generally subject to a two-year filing period. Occupational disease claims use a different calculation, so a Mountain Home work injury lawyer should review the deadline based on the type of condition involved.
What Happens if the Claim Is Denied?
An employer or insurance carrier may deny a claim by filing Form 61. The denial should state why the carrier refuses to accept responsibility.
Claims are often denied because the carrier contends that:
- No workplace accident occurred.
- The employee failed to provide timely notice.
- The injury is unrelated to the job.
- A medical condition existed before the reported accident.
- The worker is an independent contractor.
- The employee cannot prove an occupational disease.
- The claim was filed after the applicable deadline.
- The employer is not subject to the Workers’ Compensation Act.
You may request a hearing before a Deputy Commissioner by filing Form 33. The case may proceed through mediation, a hearing, and further review depending on whether the parties reach an agreement.
How Our Mountain Home Workers’ Comp Attorneys at Farmer & Morris Law Handle These Claims
We review the accident report, medical records, wage information, Industrial Commission filings, and correspondence from the carrier. We then identify the benefits in dispute and the evidence needed to address the insurer’s position.
Our attorneys can:
- File or amend workers’ compensation forms.
- Communicate with the adjuster and defense attorney.
- Seek approval for disputed medical treatment.
- Review average weekly wage calculations.
- Address denied or delayed disability payments.
- Respond to efforts to terminate benefits.
- Take depositions from medical and other witnesses.
- Represent you at mediation and hearings.
- Evaluate impairment ratings and settlement terms.
- Coordinate related third-party claims.
Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC handles workers’ compensation claims on a contingency-fee basis. Our Mountain Home workers’ comp attorneys will explain the fee agreement during your free consultation.
Speak With a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer in Mountain Home Today
If your work injury claim has been denied, your checks have stopped, or the carrier will not approve treatment, contact Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC. Our Mountain Home workers’ compensation lawyers can review the claim and determine the appropriate course of action.
Call today for a free consultation. Bring any forms, medical restrictions, denial letters, or settlement papers you have received so we can give you clear answers about your case.
