Worker compensation laws in the United States developed during the early 1900s as a result of the industrial age and growing numbers of industrial injuries.
Before that, workers injured on the job often found themselves without remedy against their employer or their fellow workers.
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Worker Compensation – Meaning And How It Works
Worker compensation law is governed by statutes in every state, that vary with each jurisdiction, but the key features are always consistent – the employee is entitled to receive certain benefits when she/he suffers an occupational disease or accidental personal injury arising out of and in the course of employment.
Benefits may include cash or wage-loss benefits, medical and career rehabilitation benefits, and in the case of accidental death of an employee, benefits to dependents. The Negligence and fault of either the employer or the employee usually are immaterial.
Workers’ compensation law is unique in that negligent acts of either the employer or the injured employee generally are irrelevant to the determination of compensability. Victims of injuries not related to work in most cases must prove the negligence of another party before recovering money in a lawsuit.
Can I Get Workers’ Comp for Hearing Loss?
Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that nearly 30 million people are exposed to hazardous noise levels at work every year. Long-term exposure to high levels of noise can cause permanent tinnitus or hearing loss.
OSHA sets employee noise exposure limits at 90dBA for 8 hours a day and only 2 hours of exposure to 100 dBA sound levels.
If you experience hearing loss while working in a noisy environment, you may be eligible for workers’ compensation.
As with all workers’ compensation claims, you must be able to show that your hearing loss was work-related. Employers and insurance companies may try to point to advanced age or the fact that you like to listen to loud music as the cause of your hearing loss. It may be easier for you to prove work-related hearing loss if you work in a noisy environment where you have to wear protective gear to cover your ears.
If noise is a constant feature of the work environment, employers often require employees to take a hearing test before starting their employment. These tests may help the employer show that only part of your hearing loss was work-related and that you had hearing loss before you started working for them. However, you can still get workers’ compensation when conditions at work aggravate a prior injury.
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If you believe that your hearing loss may be work-related, consult with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney right away to evaluate your claim. Depending on where you live, you may have a limited amount of time to make a claim.
How a Workers’ Compensation Attorney Can Help Your Case
Hiring lawyers can be a daunting task, especially if you’ve never needed to find one before. Many people are concerned about whether these legal professionals can actually help and the short answer is – YES.
1. Protect Your Rights
Take a moment to think about the wealth of knowledge that is available from an attorney. Not only are they required to spend at least 7+ years studying law, but they also have years of real-world experience to bring to the table.
These professionals know all of your rights in terms of the workplace and will easily be able to tell if a company is trying to take advantage of you. The average person would have to research everything to determine if big corporations are overrunning them whereas your lawyers will know right away. Protecting your rights is just the first step to making sure that you get everything you’re entitled to.
2. Fill the Claim
When it comes to filing paperwork it can be difficult to know how to fill out the papers, what gets submitted to which agency, who needs what information, and more.
Your worker compensation attorney will take care of all of the paperwork. All that you will have to do is fill out the forms as per their advice and with their guidance. They will then go through the process of putting the papers through to the respective parties and making sure that everything has been completed properly.
3. Negotiate on your Behalf
There’s nothing more intimidating than having to negotiate your way through insurance companies or worker compensation organizations, especially if you’ve never had an accident at work before.
With a workers compensation attorney, you will have a professional on your side that will negotiate on your behalf to make sure that you get the total settlement that you deserve, consider any benefits that are past due, and review all areas of the case that could put more money in your pocket.
Worker Compensation Meaning – Ask Johnson Law Offices
Aging populations, advances in technology, and greater sensitivity to hearing loss are bringing more attention to financing hearing health care. For the most part, those who qualify for hearing loss worker compensation benefits are retired hearing-impaired workers who live on fixed incomes.
Always feel free to ask Johnson Law Offices about the process, the law, or an individual case. The legal, medical, and audio-metric questions that come into play in a hearing loss worker compensation claim can be complicated.
The claims require attention to detail mixed with an ability to work well with hearing-impaired retirees and their families, especially spouses, and their hearing health care professionals.
Sources
- https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Workers+compensation+claim
- https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workcomp
- https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/personal-injury/can-i-get-workers-comp-for-hearing-loss/