My mom was seriously hurt on the job

[mymomishurt]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? edit:question answered, editing out specific identifying details.

My, very elderly, mom suffered severe injuries to her shoulder and had to have surgery. It has been a few months since the incident and Doctors say it could be another six months to a year before she is healed

She was granted workmens comp and they haven't been a problem at all. There was only 1 time they gave her a hassle and after a few calls they let up, but, my mom is worried about a lot of things, and I just wanted to get a bit of advice.

1. This injuried occured when she had only been employed for six months. she is worried to death that she is not going to be retained now. I explained to her that they can't let you go b/c you filed a claim and she said something like "what if they dont renew me, i have no way so showing that it was because of my arm, they can let me go for any reason." Any advice regarding what might happen/what can we do to help her have a case if she is let go would be appreciated.

2. Honestly this injury is pretty severe, she is still in a lot of pain and is expected to be in pain for another 2 months. Which has put a strain on her. I have devoted several hours everyday to helping her, which has put a lot of strain and burden on me (don't get me wrong I love my mom, but helping her hours everyday is just heartbreaking). This injury is something that is likely to still occasionally cause her pain throughout her life. The person who caused the injury was a patient unlikely to have any money. So, if she wanted to, who would she go after in this situation?

I've been trying to get my mom to call to lawyer in the area for a while, but honestly shes too immobile, in too much pain, on painkillers, scared about her job, and feel too hopeless to even try. Can I go around asking lawyers about this? What should I look for? (this could be a whole post in itself).

Anyways thanks for reading. If you have anything to add it would be appreciated.

 

[commentator]

Usually, when a person is on worker's comp, this means it is the 'sole remedy' for the worker's injuries. In other words, she can't "go after" anybody, sue and get a settlement over and above worker's comp. So if you have an attorney "going after" the company or the state in this case, you get the same amount of money, you just have to give part of it to the attorney. In some rare cases, I have seen the attorney go after compensation for a family member's pain and suffering, but your mother, herself, cannot sue anyone. Worker's comp is a wonderful thing for employers, no? You don't get to take your case to the courts and have a jury decide you need a great deal of money for your injuries.

Okay, this is the state, not some fly by night private employer. They have a state HR as well as a departmental HR, and are going to be very up on all the regulations, and very aware of repercussions they might have from terminating her while she is on a worker's comp claim.

If they had another valid reason to terminate (say, for example, they discovered she had been abusing patients or stealing medications) while she is on worker's comp, yes, they could terminate her. But it would reduce their control of the claim and they would have liability if they could not show they have some really excellent reason for doing it. I doubt very strongly if this will happen. Your mom doesn't really need to be twisting herself up about this. If they terminate her, she'd still be drawing worker's comp, separation from the job would not terminate the worker's comp claim.

If the state had a massive lay off, and she would have been affected anyway, she can be let go, even though she is on worker's comp, but then, she would have been let go anyhow even if she had not been injured, so she's certainly not any worse off, and she's got 70% of her income coming in until she is released from worker's comp. At that point, she would be able to sign up on unemployment insurance. But it hasn't happened,and it probably won't so she doesn't need to be stewing over it now.

If the state were to terminate her while she's still on worker's comp, I would advise you to speak with an attorney at that point. There would need to be evidence that she was let go "because of" her injury. But I honestly do not think it's very likely. Her being old enough to wander into EEOC issues also will be a consideration in their firing her, I'd suspect. By the way, I've gots to know, what do you consider "very elderly"? How old is mom?

It does not sound like she is going to be released from worker's comp and ready to return to work for a really long time. In fact if when she has been determined by her doctors to have reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) if she still has limitations, they say she cannot be expected to improve beyond this point, then she will be offered a Permanant Partial Disability settlement. This is whether she is determined able to return to work or not.

And having an attorney would not necessarily give her more of a settlement in this situation than she'd get without one. The settlement is based strictly on their schedule, they have tables that figure the percent of loss of function of the part of the body or the body as a whole, and this is the impairment rating they give her, which results in their offering her this specific amount of money.

If you disagree with the impairment rating they offer, you can request a second evaluation, with the doctor of your choice. You don't need an attorney for this, you can see your own doctor and see if they think you need a higher rating and if so, appeal. You don't need to have to share a hunk of the money you get with someone when you'd have gotten the same amount anyway.

What should you look for? Frankly, if I were you, I'd forget suing anybody. I'd be very cautious about hiring an attorney at this point. I'm sure they'd be glad to take your mom's case, because it sounds as though there's a settlement coming for her, but they do not work for free, and you need to be sure their assistance would be needed and helpful, not just enable her to get what she's going to get anyhow.

Research your state's worker's comp laws, go to their web sites and become informed if you want to help her. But right now, all she needs to concentrate on is getting better without worrying that she's being cheated somehow or is about to be blindsided by the system. She is getting a good percentage of her regular income without doing anything for it, which in our society is a tremendously good thing, for as long as the doctor says she is not ready for release. She's weak and feeling debilitated right now, but hopefully she'll make a good recovery.

 

[ecmst12]

If the work related injury is going to result in some degree of permanent disability, or if the employer or the worker's comp carrier is being at all difficult to work with, it's definitely a good idea to have a chat with a worker's comp attorney, even if you don't end up hiring one.

How old is she really? Why would she be working in a state rehab clinic if she is "very elderly"? And wasn't she trained NOT to turn her back on patients?

 

[mymomishurt]

Thank you so much for answering. That is what I thought, however, since it was a person who injured her (police were called and my mom asked to file charges against the person), who wasn't employed I wasn't sure. As I said she already has workmen's comp, maybe this should be under personal injuries?

My mom is 61. I don't know if that's "very elderly" to you, but I'm 24. I wasn't there when it happened, so I don't know exactly what happened, but the person was in their late 20's early 30's.

I don't want to go into details about what she does, but she doesn't work for the hospital, and doesn't go there very often, its more a budgets/quality/making sure the money is being spent on what it's allocated for.

Her main worry is not getting renewed at the end of the year, and my mom is the type that once she gets an idea in her head shes convinced its gonna happen and theres nothing she can do. Plus right now shes a bit more angry b/c of the pain (she tore her rotator cuff, look it up its one of the most painful surgeries).

 

[ecmst12]

My mom is also going to be 61 this year, of course that's not "very elderly", that's not even retirement age! She would probably kick your butt for describing her that way! "Very elderly" sounds like 80s or 90s.

 

[commentator]

Yes, that definitely doesn't sound elderly to me.

But it is old enough to consider that she is an age EEOC discrimination possibility. But OP, if your mom worked for a private contractor of some kind, not the state, and her contract was renewed on a year to year basis, there was a very reasonable possibility that she wouldn't be renewed anyway, injured or not. As I said, if there is a mass layoff of employees, or if the situation is such that the person would have been laid off anyway, then they'd be okay to lay her off at the end of the contract. Only if they were stupid enough to say (or clearly imply), "Well, we're firing so and so because she has the worker's claim against us!" would there be a likely case for legal action.

If she does work for the state, it might be reasonable to expect them to hold her job for her for six months to a year, but if it is a private agency, they may very well cite economic factors and try to end the contract this year if she is not able to return. As I said, this would not stop her worker's comp claim from working on out to completion, or later shut off her unemployment insurance. Since she's not going to be released to return to work for quite a while, I think you said six months to a year, what's productive about worrying about it?

The issue with her being attacked by the client and a criminal charge lodged against him would be a possible matter for suit in civil court, but as you say, I suspect there's not any money to be gotten from the attacker. It would be a long stretch to show that the facilty deliberately placed her in danger due to their negligence. You could always run her situation by an attorney and see if they can see any damages above and beyond, any way around the "sole remedy" situation. In most cases, it is quite tricky to sue the state, they are very well defended, but can be done sometimes.

Worker's comp is very cut and dried, there is not a great deal of negotiation room in their cases, so as long as the clients are reasonably competent and minimally informed it does not usually take an attorney to get you through the system.

 

[stealth2]

My mom is also going to be 61 this year, of course that's not "very elderly", that's not even retirement age! She would probably kick your butt for describing her that way! "Very elderly" sounds like 80s or 90s.

My Mom s 81, and she would take offense at being described as "very elderly".