Dalton Workers’ Compensation Settlements

Individuals who are considering Dalton workers’ compensation settlements are recommended to consult a lawyer. There may be numerous parties involved in the settlement process who have competing goals, and a settlement may have longterm consequences on various aspects of a person’s life. A knowledgeable personal injury attorney could answer your legal questions and help you pursue a settlement.

Parties Involved in Settlement and their Roles

The employee, the employer, and the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company are the parties that could be involved in settlements for Dalton workers’ compensation. While the workers’ compensation insurance company typically negotiates and operates on behalf of the employer, this may not always be the case. The organization’s insurance company and the employer are typically on the same side and work together since they have the same interest.

The employees, who are on the other side, are typically trying to negotiate and get the employer and the insurance company to pay them a fair amount of money to compensate for the losses they have suffered because of the injury.

Circumstances in Which an Employee May Consider Entering Into a Settlement

Settlements could make sense for an employee when the medical treatment has completed or is close enough to completion that the person knows his or her future medical outlook. When employees understand the future of their injuries, they may understand what kind of losses or limitations they are going to experience in the future. When the employer and the workers’ compensation insurance company offer enough money under the workers’ compensation system to fairly compensate the employee for the loss, then a settlement could make sense.

How a Settlement Might Impact Employee Benefits

Workers’ compensation settlements in Dalton typically end disability benefits. When employees accept a settlement, they agree that they are not going to be entitled to any disability benefits for the injuries in the future. They may also agree not to receive or apply for any medical benefits in the future. This could depend on how the settlement is worked out and worded. Since they may lose all of their benefits because of the settlement, the settlement must be right. It needs to be fair before the employee enters into it, or he or she could be making a terrible mistake.

Things a Plaintiffs is Recommended to Include in a Settlement

Employees need to ensure that the settlement includes enough money to compensate them fairly under the Workers’ Compensation laws for their injuries, for their time off work, and for any permanent disabilities that they will suffer in the future. They may also need to ensure that the settlement provides for future medical treatment, and the settlement provides enough money to justify foregoing the right to future medical treatment.

Defining Payment of a Rating in Relation to Worker’s Compensation Benefits

A “rating” in a workers’ compensation case could mean a permanent medical impairment rating from a doctor. Doctors are typically trained to give permanent medical impairment ratings by the American Medical Association, which provides a handbook for doctors that give them specific standards for how to assign a permanent medical impairment rating to an injured employee. Doctors are required by law to use that handbook. When a doctor assigns a permanent medical impairment rating, the workers’ compensation law has a formula that takes that rating in determining the workers’ compensation benefit amount.

The benefit rate of the employee is based on their best on their weekly wage and provides a settlement amount based on their rating. The payment of a rating means that they have put that rating into the formula and paid the person the amount that the formula states based on the rating.

Reach Out to a Local Dalton Worker’s Compensation Lawyer

While the workers’ compensation laws are complicated, many of the laws benefit employees. It may not be in the employer’s or the workers’ compensation insurance company’s best interest to explain all the technicalities that benefit the employee. When an employee is not represented by a local experienced lawyer, then it could be easy for the employer or the insurance company to take advantage of the employee.

A workers’ compensation lawyer could ensure that the employee does not get taken advantage of, is paid all the benefits to which he or she is entitled, and is given a fair settlement for the injuries he or she suffered. Speak to an attorney today before settling.