If you were injured in an accident during the scope of your employment, as long as your doctor is holding you out of work, you should be entitled to temporary disability wage benefits (2/3rds of your average weekly wage) and payment of all their medical bills. In North Carolina, (NOT Virginia) even if you return to work, you may be entitled to additional money for any permanent partial impairment in your spine which occurred as a result of your injury.
At Joe Miller Law Ltd., our North Carolina and Virginia workers’ compensation lawyer has helped thousands of injured workers and workers with occupational illnesses obtain the benefits they deserve. We understand the unique challenges involved with neck injury claims. We work with your doctors to confirm what type of injury you have, what treatments you need, and how your neck injuries affect your ability to work. To speak with a seasoned workers’ compensation lawyer call attorney Joe Miller, Esq., at 888-667-8295.
Our law firm does have a way for you to provide your details of your accident and injuries if you simply want to do that electronically from the comfort and safety of your home at any time of day or night. To utilize this service, simply click here: New Electronic Case Review.
We’ll get back to you, typically within 24 hours to provide our response as to whether your situation is one where we can provide you with legal representation. If we require more information, we’ll contact you and ask for that information in order to make that determination as to whether we are the best folks to assist you. If we ultimately determine that we cannot represent or assist you, we will not leave you high and dry. We’ll do our best to provide you with other resources to assist you.
What Happens at a Workers’ Compensation Hearing?
Many times, your employer or the insurance company for your employer will deny your original claim for benefits. Some of the reasons a North Carolina employer or a Virginia employer may deny your claim are:
- For technical reasons such as that you failed to give prompt notice of your injuries
- Because the employer asserts you were not an employee but were an independent contractor
- Because your accident did not occur during the scope of your employment
- Based on the employer/insurance company’s assertion that your injuries were due to a pre-existing condition
- In Virginia, your injury did not occur as a result of a risk associated with your employment
- Many other reasons
Employers and insurance companies may also try to terminate your benefits for various reasons. When denials are without merit, our experienced North Carolina and Virginia workers’ compensation lawyer will request a hearing to contest the termination. Some of the reasons an employer or insurance company may try to terminate your benefits are because they claim you are healthy enough to return to work or could return to work with limitations, you failed to follow through with the advice of your physicians, you failed to look for work with other companies if work with your prior employer wasn’t available, you did not comply with the vocational rehabilitation plan, and many other reasons.
Who is present at the workers’ compensation hearing?
Whatever the reason for the hearing, the following people are usually present at the hearing:
- The workers’ compensation Deputy Commissioner who was appointed to hear your work injury case, as well as his or her Clerk.
- You, the claimant (VA), or plaintiff (NC), and your lawyer
- Any witnesses you may want to call to corroborate your accident facts
- The employer or someone on behalf of the insurance company may be present depending on the issues involved, plus any other witnesses
- A lawyer on behalf of the employer
Typically in Virginia, the medical evidence is presented via the records being handed up as a “medical designation” to the Commissioner hearing your claim. Those records should include the opinions of your doctors that your injuries and disability are related to your work accident and that your treatment is medically necessary to treat you. Those opinions MUST be stated within a reasonable degree of medical probability or they will not be admissible. The records will also include the records of your office visits and work notes or disability slips from your treating physicians. That is very important evidence.
Occasionally, your attorney or the defense attorney may have taken the deposition of a doctor to clarify his or her opinions and that deposition transcript will be added to the record. It is rare that a physician will actually appear at a Hearing in a Virginia Workers Compensation case.
In North Carolina, while the medical records are also provided to the Deputy Commissioner, unlike Virginia, The North Carolina Industrial Commission does not, and will not rely on the records themselves for the medical opinions or even signed opinion letters from your treating doctors. The Commission requires the sworn testimony of the doctors via deposition, which are usually accomplished within 60 days AFTER the Hearing takes place. The record is held open for the Deputy Commissioner to receive the transcripts and/or video recordings of those depositions.
In most cases, the parties present at Hearing are just you, your lawyer, the defense lawyer, and the Deputy Commissioner. Generally, a stenographer is not present, but the Hearing testimony is electronically recorded and transcribed at a later time. There is also usually a Clerk who assists the Deputy Commissioner, but depending on the location of the Hearing, this is not always the case.
There is no jury, only the Deputy Commissioner. The hearing may or may not be open to the public.
What happens at the workers’ compensation hearing?
Worker’s compensation hearings are formal but generally less formal than a civil jury or bench trial.
In Virginia, even before the Deputy Commissioner enters the room, each party will typically hand up their medical designation, which will later be received into evidence. In North Carolina, if not already received, the Pre-Trial Agreement, which lays out the anticipated evidence, is handed up, along with the relevant medical records and an index to same, if it has not already been filed electronically.
At some point, anyone who is going to testify must swear to tell the truth. This oath is usually administered by the Clerk.
Upon arrival into the Courtroom, the Deputy Commissioner will usually recite the name of the case and make sure he/she understands what the dispute is about and understands what records both sides agree should be considered. He or she will also recite the procedural posture of the case, i.e. what Awards may already have been entered, filings, and what, if anything the parties have been able to agree on, or stipulate to.
Once everyone agrees that the Parties are on the same page, the Deputy Commissioner will usually look to your attorney and ask him to call his first witness, which is almost always the injured worker.
Your testimony
As mentioned above, you will take an oath to tell the truth (as will any other witnesses who testify). You will then answer the questions we ask you about the workplace accident, the type of work you do, your pay, and your job duties.
We will, of course, spend a good deal of time on the facts surrounding the work accident.
If it is not stipulated by the parties, we will need to prove your average weekly wage, so we’ll need to establish that via evidence of your wages over the 52 weeks prior to the accident.
We’ll also ask you about your injuries or illness including what doctors, rehab professionals, and other healthcare providers you’re seeing. We’ll ask you how your injuries are affecting your inability to do your job and many other questions about your short and long-term health problems. Where possible, we’ll show the injuries to the referee/judge. For example, if you have scars, any disfigurement, or any inability to stand or perform certain basic tasks – we want the Commissioner to understand from you your state of disability from your work injuries, in addition to looking at the medical reports.
We’ll also you questions about your symptoms, how the medical help you’ve been getting has affected those symptoms, and your employer history. We’ll also ask you questions that focus on the specific issues that are in dispute.
When we’re done questioning you, the lawyer or the employer or the employer’s insurance company will be able to ask you many questions too, known as “cross examination.”
Don’t worry. We’ll prepare before and go over what areas the defense attorney is likely to focus on.
The testimony of the doctors and other witnesses
As noted above, in VA, the medical records and opinions of your doctors are admitted without having to have the doctors testify.
In North Carolina, medical testimony is required in order to have the expert opinions of your physicians be admissible. The testimony of the doctors is typically acquired through a video deposition conducted within 60 days after the Hearing.
If other witnesses on your behalf are present, we’ll ask them questions too and then the defense lawyer will ask them questions. If witnesses appear for the defense, your attorney will cross examine those witnesses.
Additional employment records may also be submitted such as your job logs showing you have marketed your residual capacity to work, if you are claiming you have been unable to find work while on light duty.
Closing arguments-Nope.
Unlike what you see on TV with Jury Trials, there is typically no closing argument. If the Commissioner would like some additional info, or if your attorney thinks it would help, he or she may offer to write a “position statement,” which is essentially a legal brief on the facts of the case. The Deputy Commissioner will then set a schedule for the parties to provide position statements and responses thereto.
Deputy Commissioners usually like this because it makes their job of legal analysis of the facts easier, particularly if your case involves a complex issue of workers compensation law.
The workers’ compensation hearing decision
Unlike what you may have seen on TV, the Deputy Commissioner will NOT bang the gavel and make a decision or render an opinion on your claim at the end of the Hearing.
The amount of time it takes a Deputy Commissioner to render an opinion can vary greatly, depending on the Commissioner’s workload and the complexity of the issues in your case. Typically, a decision is rendered between 60-180 days after the Hearing. Yes, it unfortunately can take that long, sometimes longer. If the Opinion states that you are entitled to benefits, those benefits are normally retroactive to the date the employer’s insurance company stopped paying them. Of course, the defense has a right to file an Appeal.
If the decision is unfavorable, you have 30 days to note an Appeal from the decision. .
At Joe Miller Law Ltd., our North Carolina and Virginia workers’ compensation lawyer has helped thousands of workers obtain just recoveries. He’s skilled in all phases of workers’ compensation litigation including presenting and arguing at hearing before the North Carolina and Virginia referees and judges. To speak with a seasoned workers’ compensation trial lawyer, call attorney Joe Miller, Esq., at 888-667-8295 or use my online contact form to schedule a free consultation.
Our law firm does have a way for you to provide your details of your accident and injuries if you simply want to do that electronically from the comfort and safety of your home at any time of day or night. To utilize this service, simply click here: New Electronic Case Review.
We’ll get back to you, typically within 24 hours to provide our response as to whether your situation is one where we can provide you with legal representation. If we require more information, we’ll contact you and ask for that information in order to make that determination as to whether we are the best folks to assist you. If we ultimately determine that we cannot represent or assist you, we will not leave you high and dry. We’ll do our best to provide you with other resources to assist you.
