Floridians hurt at work are entitled to Florida workers' compensation benefits, such as lost wage benefits like temporary total, temporary partial disability benefits,impariment benefits, and permanent total disabiltiy benefits. If you have an injury at work you may be entitled to medical treatment and medical mileage. Those with work place injuries are denied Florida workers' compensation benefits, or see those benefits reduced or discontinued. It may be necessary to hire a St.Petersburg Workers Compensation Attorney/workplace attorney to file a Petition for Benefits on your behalf to get the proper benefits. Nancy Cavey, a board certified workers' compensation attorney and a workers' compensation hearing/Floria workers' comp appeal lawyer, practices in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, and Tampa.

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Your Rights to Florida Workers’ Compensation Benefits - Medical Care and Lost Wage Benefits

Florida Workers' Compensation Benefits and Finding A Florida Workers' Compensation Attorney 

Many injured Florida workers find that the Florida Workers' Compensation law fails them. Workers’ compensation is supposed to both provide you with workers' compensation benefits and and cover your medical bills while you recuperate from your on the job injurys. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way when you are hurt on the job.  The 2003 changes to the Florida workers' compensation law have limited your benefits and your rights. It is almost like a chess match with only 3 moves to check-mate! Nancy Cavey, a St. Petersburg workers compensation attorney, will  explain the rules of the game.

Fewer than 1% of all Florida Workers' Compensation Lawyers are board certified by the Florida Bar as a specialist in Florida Workers' Compensation law. Nancy Cavey, your  Tampa  workers' compensation lawyer, is one of the few board certified workers' compensation lawyers in the st. Petersburg area.

Nancy, a St. Petersburg workers compensation lawyer,  is also AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell peer rating process.*This is the highest rating a lawyer can obtain. Ms. Cavey, who is the former Chair of the Workers' Compensation Section of the Florida Bar, speaks annual at the Board Certification classes for Florida workers compensation attorneys.

Florida Workers Compensation Benefits - Your Entitlement to Medical Care

Job injuries happen every day in Florida and employers are required to have workers' compensation insurance to provide you lost wage benefits and medical care. It is your responsbility to report any injury at work,  even if it’s minor and even if you think just a couple of days off will hlep your pain.  You must report your on the job to your employer within 30 days of the accident or the workers' compensation carrier will have NO responsibility for paying workers compensation benefits to you or providing you with medical care.

Your employer or their workers' compensaton insurance company must authorize your medical care. You just can't pick your family doctor or a doctor your friend or family recommended. If you don't like the doctor the workers' compensation insurance company picked, you can ask for another. But, be careful,  that the insurance company doesn't offer you a doctor who is worse than the first.  Consult Nancy L. Cavey, a Largo workers compensation lawyer, first at               (727) 894-3188        for a free initial consultation so you don't make a bad move.

Your authorized medical expenses, including prescriptions and your medical mileage, will be paid. Once your doctor says that you are either completely recovered or as recovered as you are going to get (maximum medical improvement or MMI), you will be charged a $10.00 co-pay for your medical visits.

Often your doctor will recommend testing or surgery the workers' compensation insurance company refuses to authorize leaving you in medical limbo. Nancy L. Cavey, your Tampa workers compensation attorney, will help you with your next move and your right to an independent medical examination (IME) by a physician you pick.

Florida Workers Compensation Benefits - Your Entitlement to Lost Wage Benefits

If your injury is serious enough to keep you from working or can keep you restricted to light duty, you should be eligible for temporary disability benefits. These benefits are paid based upon your average earnings during the 13 weeks immediately prior to your date of injury. Your compensation rate is 66 2/3 % of your average weekly wage.  Many workers' compensation insurance companies miscalculate the amount of your benefits and short change you.  Nancy L. Cavey, your Clearwater work place injury lawyer, will look at your pay records to make sure your are getting the correct amount of benefits.

The maximum amount of time that you can receive temporary benefits is for 104 weeks.  These include temporary total and temporary partial disability benefits. That is not a lot of time if you have a serious injury that requires surgery so getting your medical care promptly is important.

If the doctor has determined that your condition due to the injury is permanent but won’t keep you from obtaining other work, then you may be eligible for impairment  benefits. The amount of your impairment benefits is based on a sliding a ratings system.

Your impairment benefits can be reduced by 50% if you earn at least what you were making at the time of the injury. Many employers will bring an injured worker back to work at full wages and, after the workers' compensation insurance company has paid your reduced workers compensation benefits, fire you. It is legal but wrong!

If the doctor determines that your injury will only allow you to work in a sedentary job, then you may be eligible for permanent total disability benefits which will pay you benefits to age 70 with an annual cost of living adjustment or up to age 75 depending on how old you were at the time of your injury.

While this is how the process is supposed to work, the insurance companies do everything they can to make sure that it doesn’t work. That is why it is important to have Nancy Cavey, a Florida workers' compensation attorney, to help you understand your rights.

Workers’ Compensation: The Challenges

Always remember that a workers' compensation insurance company is in the business of collecting insurance premiums from your employer. Many employers pick price over service. 

The workers' compensation insurance companies first and foremost concern is to keep costs and payouts as low as they possibly so they don't have to pay your for your work place accident and work place injury. To that end, they often deny certain treatments on the grounds that they are unnecessary, or declare your are completely recovered when nothing could be further from the truth. They also find other ways to deny your claim.

The workers' compensation adjsuter will call you and ask to take a statement from you. They will ask you questions about your accident, your prior medical history and prior accidents. You don't  have to answer their questions or fill out their forms. 

Workers’ Compensation Insurance Carriers have been known to dig into the medical histories of injury victims in order to find something that could give them a reason to deny claims. For instance, if you suffered from a leg injury while you were in high school, they could very easily consider that a pre-existing condition, which they could then claim was responsible for your condition as opposed to your injury at work. Or if you forget to tell them about your high school injury, they could label you as a fraudulent cheater who is barred from collecting any workers' compensation benefits.

If you feel that you are not getting the benefits that you deserve, the most important thing that you can do is contact Cavey and Barrett, Tampa Bay Workers' Compensation Attorneys, at               (727) 894-3188       . They can tell you if you have a valid claim, and also help you through the difficult process of petitioning for your benefits. Cavey and Barrett are your workers' compensation hearing attorneys. Some workers' compensation firms will advertise they handle cases but, in fact, rarely, if ever try a workers' compensation case before the Judge of Compensation Claims. A board certifed workers' compensation lawyer, like Ms. Cavey, must try a certain number of cases to maintain their certification. 

Workers' Compensation Litigation

All Petitions for Benefits (PFB) must be mediated before they can be set for a hearing before a Judge of Compensation claims (JCC).  If you fiile a Petition for Benefits you can be assured the insurance company will have a defense attorney take a statement from you under oath - a daunting experience without an attorney by your side.

Many disputes can be resolved at mediation if the parties can exchange information, especially if the insurance carrier can be properly convinced that you have a strong case. You can be assured that the carrier will be represented at this mediation conference by an attorney, and facing this hearing with no legal counsel at all could put you at a serious disadvantage.

If the dispute is unable to be resolved, a final hearing will be scheduled.  You will get to tell the Judge your side of the what happened. Evidence will be submitted to the judge who will decide whether you are entitled to the claimed benefits.

An appeal can be taken of the judge’s order to the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee.  Nancy Cavey, your Florida workers' compensation lawyer and attorney and Florida workers comp appeal attorney, helped write the rules of workers' compensation procedure used by the JCC.

Cavey and Barrett: Bridging the Gap for the Workers of Florida

A workers’ compensation case is very specialized, and is not the sort of legal case where just any lawyer will do. A crucial part of having your claim negotiated successfully is consulting Cavey and Barrett, Tampa Bay Workers' Compensation Lawyers, who have in-depth experience in workers’ compensation law.

Cavey and Barrett, your St. Petersburg based workers' compensation hearing attorneys, specializes in helping injured Florida workers get fair treatment when they get injured on the job. Nancy L. Cavey has over twenty eight years of legal experience in  workers compensation and has represented both injured employees and employers and their workers' compensation insurance companies. She knows both sides.

If you or a loved one has been injured on the job, and you feel that you are not getting the benefits that you deserve, contact our offices for a free legal consultation today.

With offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Law Offices of Cavey and Barrett serves clients throughout the Tampa Bay area, including St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park, Clearwater, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Tampa, Brandon, Bradenton and Sarasota. The firm serves clients in Pinellas County, Hillsbrough County, Pasco County, Manatee County and Sarasota County, Florida. 

CV, BV, and AV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties, Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards, and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the Bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell Ratings evaluate two categories - legal ability and general ethical standards

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