Workers' Compensation Blog | St. Joseph Injury Lawyer

28

Sep 2022

Missouri’s Process for Workers’ Compensation Claims

Hopefully, employees never have to go through the workers’ compensation system, because doing so means that you suffered a significant injury. However, for those that do have to rely on workers’ compensation for their recovery, the process can be confusing. Here, the workers’ compensation and personal injury lawyers at the Smith Law Office provide an overview of the process. Contact them online or ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

14

Sep 2022

8 Reasons a Workers’ Compensation Claim Can Get Denied

In Missouri, if you are an employee and you get hurt on the job, you can be entitled to workers’ compensation . However, workers’ compensation is a type of insurance: Your employer pays regular premiums to an insurance company so the company pays for certain costs of workplace injuries that fall within the policy’s coverage. Importantly, some workplace accidents and injuries are going to fall ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

31

Aug 2022

My Employer Denied My Workers’ Compensation Claim. What Can I Do?

If you get hurt on the job, you can report the injury to your boss and initiate the workers’ compensation process. However, there are times when your employer or the workers’ compensation insurance company denies the claim. While there are numerous legal justifications for them to do so, it does not necessarily end your case. Why Would a Claim for Workers’ Compensation Get Denied? As we will show ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

17

Aug 2022

Can Workers’ Compensation Cause an SSDI Offset?

In our last blog post about workers’ compensation , we looked at Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits , and when injured workers were eligible for them. One thing that we mentioned but did not detail was what happened when you receive both workers’ compensation benefits and SSDI benefits. The SSDI Offset Injured workers can recover both workers’ compensation benefits as well as ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

3

Aug 2022

What is SSDI and am I Eligible After a Workplace Injury?

If you get hurt at work in Missouri, you are usually entitled to workers’ compensation . However, if you suffer a significant disability that makes it impossible for you to work after the accident, you may also become eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. While these benefits can help you get closer to your original wage rate, the eligibility requirements are strict. ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

20

Jul 2022

What Happens When You Offer New Evidence on Appeal?

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (LIRC) recently affirmed a denial of workers’ compensation by the administrative law judge (ALJ) . The reason for the denial was straightforward and a crucially important part of the process for unrepresented accident victims to know about: The trial is where you present your evidence, not the appeal. Hurt Worker Tries Presenting New Evidence on Appeal ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

6

Jul 2022

Why are Lump Sum Awards Preferred in Workers’ Compensation Cases?

In our last blog post about workers’ compensation , we looked at how cases tend to settle in Missouri . In that article, we said that the settlement amount “is almost always made in a lump sum” payment. A Missouri Court of Appeals just dealt with a case that did not settle in a lump sum. The case, which has been ongoing for 20 years now, shows why lump sum payments are the preferred method of ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

22

Jun 2022

How Do Missouri Workers’ Compensation Cases Settle?

The vast majority of workers’ compensation claims in Missouri settle out of court. Only a few go to trial with the administrative law judge , and even fewer are appealed to the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (LIRC) or into the court system. Settling your claim, however, ends your case. If you do not settle for enough, you will not have the full amount of compensation that you need and ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

8

Jun 2022

Can I Get Fired for Filing for Workers’ Comp?

A frequent concern that employees have when they get hurt on the job is getting fired for exercising their rights to workers’ compensation . The law in Missouri is clear: Your employer is prohibited from retaliating against you for filing a workers’ compensation claim or reporting a workplace injury. In practice, though, it is more complicated. Missouri Law Forbids Retaliation Against Workers ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

25

May 2022

Why is the Second Injury Fund Statute So Confusing?

Many of the recent disputes in Missouri workers’ compensation law have centered on the reading of Missouri Statute 287.220 . The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (LIRC) has been repeatedly reprimanded by Missouri courts for applying the wrong subsection of the law. Why has the LIRC, which is supposed to be intimately familiar with workers’ compensation law in the state, consistently made ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

11

May 2022

LIRC Affirms Award Under Last Exposure Rule

Given the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission’s (LIRC) longstanding trend towards denying any claim for workers’ compensation that it can, a recent affirmation of an administrative law judge’s grant of temporary total disability and survivor benefits comes as a surprise. The specific facts of the case offered an opportunity for the LIRC to deny the claim, but it chose not to. Diesel Mechanic ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

27

Apr 2022

What is Maximum Medical Improvement in Missouri?

Maximum medical improvement, or MMI, is a fundamental concept in workers’ compensation law in Missouri. It is the point where the victim’s workplace injuries have stabilized and will not improve any more. Once MMI has been reached, workers’ compensation benefits shift from medical care and temporary disability benefits to permanent disability benefits. What is Maximum Medical Improvement in ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

13

Apr 2022

How Light Duty Roles Can Create Workplace Conflicts

After a workplace injury, the goal for most workers is to get back on the job. While workers’ compensation will cover their medical expenses and the wages they have lost while they were recovering, once a doctor clears the worker for light duty, those temporary disability benefits can disappear if the worker refuses a reasonable offer to come back to work. While employers in Missouri are not ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

6

Apr 2022

Do Missouri Employers Have to Offer Light Duty?

Under Missouri workers’ compensation law, employers are not legally obligated to provide light duty work to employees who have had work restrictions imposed by a doctor after a workplace injury. However, for financial reasons, many employers do provide light duty roles. Employees who are offered an adequate light duty role may lose workers’ compensation benefits if they turn it down. What is Light ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

16

Mar 2022

The LIRC’s Streak of Losses in Court Continues

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (LIRC) is on a very bad streak, as yet another Missouri Court of Appeals overturned its poorly-reasoned denial of workers’ compensation . The newest case is just the latest in a disturbing trend that suggests that the LIRC is less interested in doing justice than it is in throwing out legitimate claims for workers’ compensation. LIRC Muddles Its Way ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

2

Mar 2022

Missouri Appeals Court Roasts LIRC, Again

The Missouri Court of Appeals issued another workers’ compensation decision last week, overturning a ruling by the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (LIRC) . Both the content and the style of the appellate court’s ruling give a sense of frustration with the LIRC’s new, disturbing trend of denying coverage to hurt workers. A “Legal Odyssey” of a Case Returns to the Court of Appeals The ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

16

Feb 2022

Can I Sue My Employer for a Work Injury?

In a recent blog post, we looked at whether workers’ compensation was an exclusive remedy for workers who have been hurt on the job. Generally, it is: Injured workers have to go through the workers’ compensation system, rather than file a personal injury lawsuit against their employer. However, there are exceptions to this rule that can let workers file a lawsuit against their employer and try to ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

2

Feb 2022

Is Workers’ Compensation an Exclusive Remedy?

In prior posts about Missouri workers’ compensation law, we have referred to the system as a trade-off between employers and their employees. One of the biggest implications of that trade-off is that workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy that injured workers have for on-the-job accidents. Given how workers’ compensation is strictly construed by courts and constantly tightened by the state ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

19

Jan 2022

When Does Workers’ Compensation Start Paying Out?

Missouri workers who get hurt on the job are entitled to workers’ compensation . When that compensation actually gets paid, though, is very important. People who read our blog may have noticed that some of the cases we have covered involve workplace injuries that happened years earlier. These cases are outliers, though, because they took a judge or magistrate to resolve the dispute. The vast ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

5

Jan 2022

LIRC Uses Idiopathic Injury Rule to Deny Award, Again

The Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (LIRC) has once again turned to the idiopathic injury rationale to deny workers’ compensation to a hurt worker. The specific facts of this case show just how unworkable this rationale can be. Medical Complications from Truck Accident Leads to Leg Amputation Back in February, 2014, a truck driver with diabetes left Missouri for Arkansas. In Arkansas, he ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

22

Dec 2021

What Workers’ Compensation Benefits are Available in Missouri?

Employees who get hurt on the job in Missouri are often entitled to workers’ compensation . But what does “compensation” mean? Here is what it includes. 3 Types of Workers Compensation Benefits in Missouri Each state has a different way of structuring workers’ compensation. Missouri’s system provides 3 kinds of benefits to hurt workers: Medical treatment, including travel expenses Disability ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

15

Dec 2021

How Bad is the Brock Decision for Hurt Workers?

A few weeks ago, we covered a workers’ compensation case where the Missouri Supreme Court narrowed co-worker liability . The negative effects of that decision on workplace safety cannot be understated. Missouri Supreme Court Narrows Co-Worker Liability The issue is fairly simple: What can workers do when they are hurt on the job by one of their coworkers? For example, in the case that the Missouri ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

24

Nov 2021

Missouri Court Narrows Co-Worker Liability

The Missouri Supreme Court weighed in on an important aspect of workers’ compensation law: Co-employee liability. The results were not good for injured workers. Missouri Supreme Court Reverses Workers’ Compensation Award The case is Brock v. Dunne . What happened was pretty straightforward. Several manufacturing workers would feed a sheet of particle board into a machine. Rollers in the machine ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

10

Nov 2021

LIRC’s Wrongful Denial of Workers’ Compensation Overturned

Once again, the Missouri Court of Appeals had to step in and reverse a workers’ compensation decision by the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (LIRC) over the Second Injury Fund . These successful appeals all follow a shocking case where the LIRC expressly refused to follow a court ruling . Injured Worker Appeals Denial of Workers’ Compensation The case, Marberry v. Second Injury Fund , ...

Posted By Smith Law Office

27

Oct 2021

What are Survivor Benefits in Missouri?

When a worker is hurt on the job, he or she is entitled to workers’ compensation . When the workplace accident was a fatal one, though, that compensation cannot go to the worker. Instead, it goes to his or her dependents in the form of survivor benefits. What are Survivor Benefits Under Missouri Workers’ Compensation Law? Survivor benefits are a type of workers’ compensation. They get paid to the ...

Posted By Smith Law Office