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If you were badly injured while on the job, there is a good chance that you qualify for Temporary Total Disability (TTD) paychecks through your employer’s workman’s comp program. However, there are numerous roadblocks that could derail you from receiving your disability checks. Before you try to sort this out on your own, get help from an attorney who knows how to navigate obstacles with workers’ compensation checks in Oak Lawn.
If someone is hurt in a job-related injury and the treating doctor directs that person off from work, the insurance company must pay that worker unless there is a contradicting medical opinion. Insurance companies often send injured workers for an Independent Medical Examination (IME). If that doctor’s report states that the patient is able to work, even though the patient’s own personal doctor says they should not be, the insurance company can halt the worker’s compensation checks.
There are a few courses of action when an insurance company stops giving out checks after an IME. The worker can try to return to work. They can stay off of work and have attempt to get their checks reinstated. However, this process can be slow and there will be no checks during this time period. If the worker prevails, they will get that back disability pay retroactively but that does not help them pay their bills while the process is occurring.
The worker should not file for unemployment. Filing for unemployment is proof that someone is physically capable of work, corroborating the IME doctor. When someone encounters an obstacle regarding their workers’ comp checks in Oak Lawn, they should contact a lawyer to discuss their next move.
An injured employee must get a doctor’s note for every doctor’s visit. The note should specify the time period they are to be off from work or on restricted duty, and why. They should get a new note every month and the insurance company will also require updated medical records from doctor’s visits in order to continue pay out checks.
Finding out why a check is late is critical. Sometimes the check is just delayed in the mail, which is why direct deposit is preferred. Each TTD check must be manually entered into the computer for the workers’ compensation insurance company to issue a check. Sometimes adjusters “forget” to issue the check and a simple phone call from a lawyer could get it issued. Other times, the adjuster needs updated medical records or an off-work note. If a check is late, a lawyer could find out why, get it fixed, or go to court to force the insurance company to issue disability checks.
There may be other obstacles with receiving a workers’ comp check in Oak Lawn which are not as easy to solve. The insurance company might claim a defense to the case and refuse to issue TTD based on this alleged defense. A lawyer might have to go to court or find some other solution to release the money. Additionally, unless the checks are two weeks late, a lawyer cannot go to court or request the insurance company to issue a stop payment and reissue the lost check.
An insurance company might stop TTD checks based on the report from an IME from a doctor hired by the insurance company. If this doctor says the person is able to work, the insurer will stop TTD payments. Some injured workers have been forced to return to work before they were ready and suffered new injuries as a result.
It is not in the insurance company’s self-interest to keep paying you for disability. Whether the errors are accidental or on purpose, you need quality representation to sort it out. Call now to receive more information about how to overcome obstacles with workers’ compensation checks in Oak Lawn.