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As a business owner, keeping informed about the finer points of employment law is important. If you're getting ready to hire your first employees, you need to be sure that you understand exactly what you can and cannot do. Don't risk getting yourself into legal trouble by asking the wrong question at the interview or making an off-hand comment that's considered legally unacceptable. I created this site to give you the basics of employment law expectations. I hope that the information here helps you to understand what you should and shouldn't do as you're interviewing and hiring your first staff members.

Employer Fundamentals: Understanding Employment Law

There May Be Other Options During A Workplace Injury Issue

23 May 2016

Irene Robertson

An injury on the job can expose a lot of mistakes, inefficiencies, and policy problems, but it can still be a great opportunity for all involved. There may be other forms of compensation or other responsible parties that need to be considered, but you don't want to accidentally risk your workers compensation claim. Before signing anything, take a look at a few alternative or supplemental compensation angles to get what you--and maybe even your company--deserve.

Be Careful Before Suggesting A Different Problem

Being injured on the job because of a past injury isn't necessarily your fault, but it creates a situation where your employer or the involved insurance agencies may not be able to (or want to) compensate you.

Consider an accident where a worker falls over safety rails because of a weakened leg from a past injury. It's a reasonable accident and there might not be proof about whether it's your fault or because of a spill or debris, but bringing up your injury without a lawyer could jeopardize your claim.

If you're sure that the fall was caused by your weakened leg and that weakened leg was from an injury that someone else caused, you may also be entitled to past compensation. The old injury is causing current problems with employment and is putting your life at risk. You don't need to keep this conflict a secret or risk benefits by talking if you simply speak to a lawyer first.

Talk with a personal injury lawyer and discuss your situation. The falling over a rail situation may have a lot of other factors, but every accident is different and there may be ways to make sure that you get the nearly immediate benefits of workers compensation as you pursue legal action against your original injury's costs or look for other forms of support.

What Other Benefits Are Available?

A personal injury lawyer can discuss the available options unique to your specific situation, but listed below are a few options that could deliver benefits or payments from legal action:

Personal injury lawsuit. In a personal injury claim, you can take legal action against the group or individuals that caused the original problem. This can be an issue if you're already settled out of court for the original issue, but make no assumptions. A clear and significant disability that your past settlement or judgement didn't cover is worth bringing up in court again if you haven't been to court already for the issue.
Social Security Disability benefits. Social Security is a social safety net designed to provide assistance for people with permanent or temporary disabilities. Although the program can support people who are permanently disabled, one of the goals is to rehabilitate a person to the point of being able to earn an independent income or to reduce their reliance on the program.
Veterans Affairs (VA) Disability benefits. Disability from the Department of Veterans Affairs is different from the social security system. It's actually a compensation system that pays veterans and provides medical support for your condition. If you're already a disabled veteran with an official disability rating, you can apply for an increased rating using the work incident as evidence. If you're not rated as disabled, using the incident as evidence for an initial claim or appeal can deliver evidence that many veterans struggle to provide for conditions that are difficult to detect or significantly prove as a current problem.

Click here for info on a personal injury lawyer, even if you're already working with a workers compensation lawyer to understand your options.

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