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According to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s (OSHA) statistics, in 2015, 4,836 workers were killed in workplace accidents and nearly four million workers sustained injuries or illnesses.   OSHA’s data shows frequent causes for these deaths or injuries, as well as their compil...

    The post Because People Matter Entry 1: Can I choose my own doctor while on workers’ comp? appeared first on Zea Proukou - Trusted Rochester Workers' Comp Attorneys.  

Auto accident claims are heavily advertised by some attorneys. If you are injured in an auto accident, as a driver, passenger, or pedestrian, in most instances you have will file a motor vehicle accident claim.   However, if your auto accident happens while you are at work, you also have a Worke...

Under the new budget passed by the New York State Legislature, the Workers’ Compensation Permanency Guidelines for schedule loss of use awards will be getting an overhaul by the end of 2017. This means that for injured workers with injuries to their fingers, hands/wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, kn...

WHY WAS MY WORKERS’ COMP CLAIM DENIED? You suffered an injury on the job. Maybe you strained your back while lifting something heavy. Maybe you felt a pop in your knee when climbing down a ladder. Perhaps you have developed wrist pain and weakness after years at the computer. However the injury o...

You get hurt at work and it is not your fault. And technically, it’s not the employer’s fault either. Like with motor vehicle accidents, Workers’ Compensation in New York State is a no fault insurance based system. So what does this mean for you?   The Workers’ Compensation system is designed...

What happens if another body site starts hurting after your initial injury? For example, let’s say you injured your right knee. You had surgery a few months later, and recovery is not going well. You spend months in physical therapy and develop a limp. Because you have been favoring your right leg,...

When filing a workers’ compensation claim there are a few things you need to keep in mind. As with any set of laws, the NYS Workers’ Compensation system can be a difficult one to navigate alone. If you are injured while working there are things you can do to help secure your claim and protect yourse...

It is easy for workers, employers, and insurance companies to clearly define an injury that resulted from a specific accident at work. Slip and fall, machine accident, lifting a heavy object, to name a few.   What is harder to grasp are the conditions that develop over time as a result of work a...

Sometimes when people hear the words “asset protection” or “estate planning” they think those terms do not apply to them. They may think estates are only for the wealthy, or that only the rich have assets. But everyone has an estate. Your estate is made up of everything you own – home, vehicles, any...

If you are a recipient of both Workers’ Compensation (WC) and Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits, you have likely heard the term “offset” when it comes to the two benefit programs. SSD benefits are offset , or reduced, by the receipt of WC. This is why it is important to be sure Social Securi...

The Workers’ Compensation Board has recently adopted a new policy as of 1/22/16 entitled “Reduction of Administrative Determinations for Claims with No Lost Time.” While it seems relatively harmless because it pertains to injured workers with no lost time from work, it actually speaks to an in actio...

Now that the year has come to a close, tax season will be upon us soon. There are a few things that you should be reminded of when filing your federal tax return if you are a recipient of Workers’ Compensation or Social Security Disability benefits.   Generally speaking, Workers’ Compensation...

Workers’ Comp fraud is a very real thing. And it can result in very serious penalties. Just take a look at the recent local headlines out of Rochester and Lockport http://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/funeral-home-president-arrested-for-alleged-fraud/article_caab5c7e-c1de-5415-a238-6db2f2d...

For a number of important reasons, our society needs to determine an age of majority. Yet, there is no uniformity, and the New York Workers’ Compensation Law (WCL) adds a different age into the mix: 25.   WCL §14(5) reads “[i]f it be established that the injured employee was under the age of twe...

Most of our clients are surprised when we tell them there are circumstances when they can receive both workers’ compensation and unemployment benefits at the same time. In fact, the interplay between workers’ compensation and unemployment benefits occurs at a beneficial time for our clients and it i...

A client recently asked whether he had to go to an IME. Of course the answer is yes, but based on our conversation, we understood clearly that his worry centered around the fact that the IME doctor wouldn’t likely be on his side. And his concerns ring true.   There are important rights that our cl...

Suffering from a disability and being out of work and out of the loop with your co-workers and friends can lead to feelings of isolation. It is common to turn to social media outlets to feel more connected to the “outside world.”   While reading news related to workers’ compensation, I came ac...