Do You Need a Workers’ Comp Lawyer? | Workers’ Comp 101

Deciding Whether You Need a Workers’ Comp Lawyer

In this video, I answer the question of whether you need a lawyer or not in your workers’ compensation claim. When do you need a workers’ comp lawyer, and what might they do for you?

This is the final video of my Workers’ Comp 101 series.

Video Transcript

Hello, this is Darrell Castle. I’m an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee. And on this video, I’m talking about whether you need an attorney to handle a workers’ compensation case, or a case where you’ve been injured on the job.

And the answer to that question depends, of course, like most lawyer questions. The answer is: it depends. It depends on whether you have a disabling injury or not. (We talked about what a disabling injury is on the previous video.)

Let’s say you go into the workers’ comp system (in other words, you’ve been injured at work). If you’re off work for a period of time where you’re going to receive workers’ compensation benefits, they’re going to replace part of the salary you’re losing for being off work. “They” means your employer’s insurance company (the company who’s actually doing it all.) — they’re the company you’re negotiating with.

That company is the person who decides whether you receive this compensation or not. And you can bet that company has many, many lawyers and wouldn’t do anything of the legal nature without seeking legal advice. So, why should you not have legal advice? What’s wrong with it?

When They Say You Don’t Need a Lawyer

Sometimes people in the insurance company, or even your employer, will say you don’t need an attorney — “we can take care of you, we’ll help you with it” — that sort of thing. If that happens, just ask the person, “How many lawyers do you have? Are you proceeding without legal advice?”

So the answer to that question is, why shouldn’t you have legal advice to help you with it?

Also, there are many things in workers’ compensation that are very complicated. The level of your disability—your partial disability—will determine whether or not you receive lump sum compensation.

I would say, under most circumstances, you will not get the compensation you’re fully entitled to unless you have legal advice.

There are other situations where you’re injured, and you’re off work for quite a bit of time. Your doctor says “go back to work,” but you can’t. You don’t feel like you’re able to perform that same duty.

In that case, you’d be strongly advised to seek legal advice. You know, if you quit your job under those circumstance, it will cost you monetarily in ways other than your employment. It may cost you part of your lump sum benefits. You should always get legal advice before you do something like that.

Speak with a Workers’ Comp Lawyer

So, those are the many reasons why you would need an attorney to help you with the workers’ compensation claim.