Bel Air Workers Compensation Lawyers

Have you been injured at work in the Aberdeen, Bel Air, Elkton or Havre De Grace, Maryland areas? Do you know what benefits you may be entitled to? Do you have concerns regarding the Maryland process for filing a workers’ compensation claim? Are you having trouble getting compensation for your injuries, lost wages and medical expenses from your employer? Has your claim been denied? According to Maryland workers’ compensation laws you may be entitled to benefits and financial compensation if hurt at work, on the job or while handling a work related task. It makes sense to consult with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer.

For a free consultation with our experienced Bel Air, Maryland workers compensation lawyers please dial (410) 879-2002 if you reside in Harford County. In Cecil County, call (410) 392-6300.

Common Workers’ Compensation Injuries We Handle

The Law Offices of David Batzer, P.A., located in Bel Air, Maryland, helps people injured at work get the workers’ compensation they need. Work-related accidents, including construction accidents, can result in serious, debilitating and sometimes fatal injuries that prevent you from working or comfortably doing your daily tasks. These injuries may include, but are by no means limited to:

• Lower back injuries including strains and disc injuries
• Spinal cord injuries including nerve injuries, disc fractures and paralysis
• Neck injuries including Cervical Spine injuries, whiplash, sprains and strains
• Knee injuries such as fractures, dislocations, tendon tears, patella and meniscus injuries
• Crushing injuries pertaining to the hands, feet, arms and legs
• Amputation caused by traumatic accidents and injuries so severe they warrant amputation
• Coma resulting form falls, head injuries and other central nervous system injuries
• Paralysis including quadriplegia, hemiplegia, tetraplegia and paraplegia
• Joint and connective tissue injuries
• Brain injury including diffuse axonal injury, frontal, temporal and occipital lobe injuries
• Head injury such as concussions, scalp wounds, closed head injuries and open head injuries

Accidents can happen in any workplace environment including offices, healthcare facilities, schools, construction sites, manufacturing plants, retail establishments and restaurants. No matter how you sustained your work injury, whether in a fall from a ladder or scaffold or you have repetitive stress injuries from typing, Harford County Maryland Workers’ Compensation Attorney David Batzer’s more than 30 years of experience handling workers’ compensation claims in Cecil County and Harford County, Maryland can help you get the workers’ compensation benefits you rightfully deserve under Maryland workers’ compensation laws.

Benefits In Maryland Workers Comp Cases

Temporary Total Disability Benefits:  This is the period of time frequently referred to as the “healing period”. If an employee’s injury has resulted in a disability that prevents the person from returning to work at all -that is, the person is completely disabled for all work purposes- then the employee may receive temporary total disability payments. If the period of disability is fourteen (14) days or less then the compensation benefit payments may not be allowed for the first three (3) days of disablement except for payments for hospital, nursing or other medical services, funeral expenses or medicine. If the period of temporary disability lasts for more than fourteen (14) days, then the compensation is allowed from the date of disability.

Temporary Partial Disability Benefits: These are benefits to which an injured employee may be entitled during the process of recovery when the worker during a temporary period is NOT totally disabled. They are intended to be temporary and generally apply when the worker can only perform limited or part-time duties at a reduced income level. That is, when their wage earning capacity is lower. The employer or its insurer pays the covered employee compensation that equals 50% of the difference between the average weekly wage of the covered employee and the wage earning capacity of the covered employee in the same or other employment while temporarily partially disabled, subject to a maximum payment of 50% of the State average weekly wage.

Generally, if a covered employee is temporarily totally disabled due to an accidental injury or an occupational disease the employer or its insurer shall pay to the covered employee compensation that equals two-thirds of the average weekly wage on the covered employee, up to a maximum of the average Maryland weekly wage. The “average Maryland weekly wage” is calculated every year by the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) and provided to the Commission for use in its calculations. In no case are the benefits to covered employees less than $50.00 (fifty dollars) per week, regardless of the individual’s average weekly wage.

Temporary total disability benefits are intended to replace the income being lost, at least in part, during the interval when the injured employee can’t work at all. The benefit is terminated when, during the process of treatment and recovery, the point is reached where the worker is no longer totally disabled -that is, they can return to work in some capacity- or if a medical determination is made that the injured worker has reached maximum medical improvement, even if the person has not fully recovered to their pre-injury condition.

Permanent Total Disability Benefits: Some injuries are so serious that a worker is permanently, totally disabled. Absent conclusive proof to the contrary, in Maryland the loss or loss of use of any of the following constitutes a permanent total disability: both arms, both eyes, both feet, both hands, both legs; or a combination of any two of the following: an arm, eye, foot, hand or leg.

Permanent Partial Disability Benefits: Injuries that are not so serious as to leave a worker permanently, totally disabled may nonetheless result in some permanent impairment. This is called permanent partial disability.

Generally, a covered employee who is entitled to compensation under the Workers’ Compensation Act shall receive a minimum weekly compensation of $50.00 for permanent partial disability unless that employee’s average weekly wage was less than $50.00. If the worker’s average weekly wage was less than $50.00, they will receive compensation that equals their average weekly wage at the time of the accidental injury or the last injurious exposure to the hazards of their occupational disease.

Benefit payments for permanent partial disability continue for a period of weeks established by the statute; a period that varies according to the body part injured and the severity of the injury. For example, the total loss of a thumb or the use of the thumb results in payments for 100 weeks. The total loss or loss of use of the 4th finger (also called the little finger) results in payments for 25 weeks. When the period allowed by a Workers’ Compensation Commission finding and prescribed by the law has run, the compensation payments cease.

If a covered employee has an accidental injury or an occupational disease that results is a permanent total disability, the employer or its insurer shall pay to the covered employee compensation that equals to two-thirds of the average weekly wage of the covered employee, subject to a maximum payment equal to the State average weekly wage. No payment for permanent disability shall be less than $25.00.

Benefits paid for permanent total disability are subject to an annual cost of living adjustment not to exceed 5% as determined by the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. These benefits are reduced in the case of workers who are also entitled to Federal Social Security Disability Benefits to the extent necessary to avoid a diminution of the Federal benefits.

Medical & Hospitalization Benefits: In addition to the various types of disability benefits to which an injured worker may be entitled, if a covered employee has suffered an accidental injury, compensable hernia or occupational disease, the employer or its insurer promptly shall provide to the covered employee, as the Commission may require:

• Medical, surgical or other attendance or treatment:
• Hospital and Nursing Services
• Medicine
• Crutches and other apparatus
• Artificial arms, feet, hands, legs and other prosthetic appliances

The entitlement to these services may continue indefinitely or for whatever period is required by the nature of the accidental injury, compensable hernia or occupational disease if there is evidence to establish that the need for these services is reasonable, necessary and causally related to the accidental injury or occupational disease.

Wage Reimbursement Benefits: In addition to any other compensation paid to a covered employee entitled to compensation under the Workers’ Compensation Act, the employer or its insurer is required to reimburse the covered employee for lost wages due to time spent being examined by a physician or other examiner at the request of the employer or its insurer and time spent attending and traveling to and from a Commission hearing scheduled as a result of a continuance caused by action of the employer or its insurer, if the claimant is otherwise entitled to compensation benefits.

Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits:  When a covered injured worker is disabled from performing work for which they were previously qualified as the result of an accidental injury or an occupational disease, the covered employee is entitled to vocational rehabilitation services.  Training may last up to 24 (twenty four) months and other services may include:

Coordination of medical services, vocational assessment, vocational evaluation, vocational counseling, vocational rehabilitation plan development, vocational rehabilitation plan monitoring, vocational rehabilitation training, job development, job placement.

To learn more about your workers’ compensation case and what benefits you may be entitled to under the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Act contact Cecil County workers’ compensation lawyer Dave Batzer for a free consultation.

How A Havre De Grace Workers Comp Lawyer Can Help

Depending on your employer and your employer’s insurance policy, getting workers’ compensation for your injury can be difficult. You may have had your disability or medical treatment stopped. No matter what the stage of your claim, our firm can help you get the benefits you deserve.

If the primary physician treating you has told you that you need more treatment but the insurance company says you don’t and can return to work, call Dave. He can work with you and your doctor to file appropriate paperwork with detailed medical diagnoses to support your case.

Our Elkton workers’ compensation law firm assists you in requesting a hearing, and we work with you throughout the process. While it may take many months to get a hearing date, the sooner you appeal your denied claim, the better.

Call A Workers Comp Lawyer Serving Elkton & Bel Air

As the call to Harford County Workers’ Comp attorney David Batzer costs you nothing there is no reason not to call immediately. Contact the Law Offices of David Batzer, P.A., in Bel Air, to discuss your workers’ compensation claim with a knowledgeable lawyer. In Harford County, please call (410) 879-2002. In Cecil County, call (410) 392-6300.

The Law Offices of David Batzer, P.A., serves those injured at work in all Harford County and Cecil County, Maryland including the cities of Aberdeen, Bel Air, Cecilton, Chesapeake City, Churchville, Elkton, Perryville, Rising Sun, North East, Aberdeen, Havre de Grace, Belcamp, Edgewood, Fallston, and Joppatowne.