Do I Need to Hire a Kansas City Workers Compensation Lawyer?

An experienced Kansas City workers comp attorney can help you protect your rights and fight to get you the compensation you are entitled to under Missouri law.

If you have been injured at work, you might be entitled to workers compensation benefits. The decisions you make regarding your workers’ compensation case can have a long term bearing on your income and lifestyle. Remember, a workers compensation case is a legal proceeding. The system was designed to be a straightforward, no-fault system, and still, many cases are resolved routinely without any hassles. However, over the years, the law has changed several times, and each change often makes things more complicated. Some issues, such as those involving social security, the Missouri second injury fund, unemployment benefits, Medicaid, and Medicare complicate cases.

Injured workers are not required to hire services of a Missouri workers compensation lawyer. However, in many cases, having a lawyer on your side is invaluable. Law requires insurance companies and employers to have a lawyer present at all hearings before the Division of workers compensation. Therefore, it is very likely that you will have to communicate with a workers compensation lawyer before your case is finally resolved.

Injured workers have the right to consult with a workers compensation lawyer, and have a lawyer to represent you during the proceedings. You may need a lawyer if:

• Your worker’s compensation case has been denied
• Your medical bills are not being paid even when you have been seeing doctors authorized by your employer and the workers compensation insurance company
• You are not receiving the medical care that you need
• Medical tests or surgery recommended by the treating doctor are denied
• The insurance company refuses to communicate with you
• You are not receiving the weekly payment even though the treating doctor says you are unfit to work
• You feel you are not being treated fairly
• You are intimidated by the whole process
• You are unsure of how to proceed (START HERE)
• Your employer has fired, harassed or demoted you because of your injury, or because you have filed a workers compensation claim
• You are receiving social security disability benefits
• You have qualified or may qualify for Medicare in the next five years
• You believe you cannot perform any job, i.e. you have become permanently and totally disabled
• Your employer does not have workers compensation insurance coverage

In the aforementioned circumstances, you should consider hiring the services of a workers compensation lawyer. It is especially important to speak with an attorney if your case cannot be resolved by settlement and you have to go through a trial or evidentiary hearing, or when your workers compensation insurance company or administrative law judge strongly advises you to hire a lawyer.