Florida Workers’ Comp Lawyer: What Happens if You Can’t Work Again?

Summary

When clients suffer severe injuries and can no longer work, they initially receive temporary workers’ comp checks, which last for five years or until a doctor determines they have reached maximum medical improvement. Once these temporary benefits end, the legal team requests permanent total disability checks. To qualify, they must demonstrate to the employer, insurance carrier, or judge that the injury is severe enough to prevent the client from returning to work. This involves sending the client to doctors who assign specific restrictions to injured body parts, such as lifting limits for back or shoulder injuries, or standing limits for leg injuries. If approved, permanent total disability checks continue to be paid until the worker reaches age 75.

FAQs

Q: What happens initially if a client has a severe injury and can no longer work?

A: They will get started with workers’ comp checks, which temporarily pay for five years.

Q: When do the temporary workers’ comp checks stop?

A: The checks stop after five years or whenever the doctor puts the claimant at “maximum medical improvement”.

Q: What step is taken after temporary checks stop?

A: The lawyer will request permanent total disability checks.

Q: What must be proven to get permanent total disability checks?

A: You have to show the insurance company and the employer that the client has such a severe injury that they can no longer work.

Q: What is the role of doctors in obtaining permanent total disability?

A: Doctors address each body part and give different restrictions, such as lifting limits or requiring a seated job, to show the client is unable to return to work.

Q: How long do permanent total disability checks last?

A: These checks will pay up until age 75.

Transcription of the Video

“many times our clients have very severe injuries and they can no longer work uh for the rest of their lives and so we will obviously get them started with their workers comp checks which temporarily they will pay five years worth of checks After the five years or whenever the claimant is put at what they call maximum medical improvement by the doctor then those temporary checks will stop and then we will request permanent total disability checks And that’s where we have to show the insurance company and the employer that our client uh has such a severe injury that they can no longer work And so we’ll send them to the doctors The doctors will address each body part and give uh different restrictions for each body part For example for their back injury they may not ever be able to lift more than five pounds or may they may only be able to do a sedentary job a seated job Or maybe for a leg injury they can’t stand more than five minutes at a time and they have to be uh seated all the time or maybe for a shoulder injury they can’t lift uh anything more than five pounds or 10 pounds or like maybe they can’t lift above their head So we have seen all types of cases with all different types of injuries whether it be to your head your neck your shoulder your knee your arm Um and we’ll make sure that we get all the restrictions necessary to show the employer the carrier and sometimes even the judge that you’re unable to return back to work and that you should be paid uh the permanent total disability checks which will pay up till age 75 So that’s usually a very long time for our injured workers And it’s something that uh we take very seriously and try to help our clients for the rest of their lives”.