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Each employer in Louisiana is legally required to ensure that its employees are provided workers' compensation coverage in the event of a workplace injury. An employer cannot require an employee to pay for her own workers' compensation policy. Neither can an employer classify an employee as an "independent contractor" for purposes of avoiding workers' compensation responsibilities. If your employer is not adequately insured for workers' compensation benefits, you may seek those benefits directly from the employer and the employer could suffer legal sanctions and civil penalties.However, what if your employer does not give you the name of the insurance company responsible for handling your workers’ compensation claim? How are you to proceed? In the past, this proved to be a very difficult situation and further added to the difficulties encountered by the injured worker. Too often, our clients have been delayed or denied benefits because the employer refused to give her the insurance information. Now, the field has been leveled a bit.To find the insurance company, access:http://www.laworks.net/WorkersComp/OWC_EmployerMenu.asp and click on “Employers’ Workers’ Compensation Coverage Verification”. Once there, you can enter all or part of the name of the employer along with the date of accident. This search will soon reveal the name of the insurance company and the insurance policy number. A quick Google search will then give you the contact information for the insurance company. Once the claim is reported to the insurance company, an adjuster is assigned and a determination is made regarding payment of benefits.Navigating this process can often be very complicated. Call us at 225-293-9720 for help.

For many years, the workers' compensation claims of Louisiana state employees were handled by the Louisiana Office of Risk Management, a state agency. Under the Jindal administration, Louisiana's risk management was privatized in 2010.In late 2015, the contract for handling workers' compensation claims of state employees was awarded to Sedgwick Claims Management Services, a Tennessee-based company. This contract is undoubtedly very lucrative for Sedgwick and part of the motivation for awarding the contract was the ability of Sedgwick to reduce costs. Be warned...reduced costs = reduced benefits for injured workers. We have seen very aggressive, unreasonable claims handling from Sedgwick since they took over the state worker claims. We have seen adjusters force unrepresented claimants to use their sick and annual leave when unable to work due to a work accident. Once the leave was exhausted, the injured worker was subject to termination based upon the Civil Service rule relating to depletion of all sick and annual leave.Additionally, we have seen misuse of the law regarding retirement of injured workers. Generally, if an injured worker retires and voluntarily removes herself from the workforce, then she will be limited to only two years of indemnity benefits. Just this week, we have met with two state employees with workers' compensation claims who had depleted all leave and who then retired due to medical disabilities related to the work injury. The adjusters assigned to these files then alleged that the injured workers voluntarily removed themselves from the workforce and indicated that the two-year rule of indemnity benefits applied. We disagree.This type of unreasonable claims handling is no doubt spurred by Sedgwick's promise to cut costs on state claims. Let us help you and aggressively protect your rights!

Often, injured workers contact our office and ask whether they need an attorney to help them with their workers' compensation claim. Sometimes, the injured worker believes they are getting all benefits they are entitled. However, this is rarely the case.There are many benefits that are owed to an injured worker, and often the insurance company will not tell you what those benefits are. This is where we come in. We have the knowledge and experience necessary to protect your rights.Did the insurance adjuster calculate your compensation rate correctly? Have all of your medical bills been paid timely? Have you been timely authorized to seek treatment with the doctor of your choice in every field or specialty? Have your mileage reimbursement requests been timely paid at the correct rate? Have you been provided adequate vocational rehabilitation? Are you entitled to an award for scarring or disfigurement? Were your benefits terminated properly?We strongly believe that all injured workers should be represented by attorneys experienced with workers' compensation claims. Contact us at Mensman Law today to schedule a free consultation. We stand ready to help you.

Short Answer: Probably not!If your treating physician indicates that you are unable to work, then the insurance company owes you indemnity benefits. Typically, they will calculate this benefit based upon your wages during the four weeks before the accident. This calculation is called your average weekly wage. The insurer must then multiply your average weekly wage by 2/3 to determine your corresponding compensation rate.This simple calculation is often done incorrectly by the insurance company. The calculation could be done differently depending on your type of employment, schedule of pay, and seasonal nature of your employment.If an employee is hired for 40 hours per week, the insurance company will multiply your hourly wage rate times 40. If an employee regularly works less than 40 hours per week, the calculation is done by averaging the wages earned in the four full weeks before the accident. If an employee is classified as a part-time employee, the calculation is done by averaging the actual hours worked and multiplying that times the wage rate.There are additional different calculations based upon whether you are a salaried employee, a moonlighting employee, or a seasonal employee.We met with a client recently and quickly determined that the insurance company was underpaying her by over $250.00 each week. We demanded that the insurance company correct this mistake and our client was very pleased that we protected her rights and obtained the compensation that was due to her. Not only did the insurance company correct the mistake, but they paid her the difference all the way back to the initial payment. This type of mistake and underpayment happens very often.If you have a question about whether you are being paid the appropriate amount, contact us today for a free consultation.