Legal Question in Workers Comp in California

Hello,

Great site! I was injured at work a year ago today and filed a workman's comp claimed ( I work for a city) The city after they saw what injury had occurred MRI and what was needed i.e. surgery they denied the claim, stating that the injury 1) didn't happen at work 2) that the injury if happened was from an old injury that happen at work some 7 yrs back ( this was a back injury) furthermore told me that there was no "light duty" ( mortified work ) for me after they forced my doctor to make me come back to work on modify work this was all in a month,I was off work for 7 months without pay( the city don't pay into state disability insurance,self insured and the city has a claims company that administrates any and all claim and THEY hire an attorney to handle their case) I hired an attorney and we had to don a deposition and now just did saw a QME ( qualify medical examiner) and he determined 1) that the injury did happen at work 2) and its a new injury, acerbated by the 1st back injury happened 7 years ago 3) But told me he wanted me to less evasive treatment like epiderals my question is this 1) do I get retro pay for the 7 months I was off 2) I had to borrow from my pension to help pay my mortgage which I was forced to foreclose, can I recoup that money as well? thank you .


Asked on 12/13/09, 6:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

You should speak to your WC attorney about these questions. The city might still argue that the injury is not work related. Once it is found or they accept that it is an industrial injury, then you would be entitled to payment of temporary disability for all the dates off work. You need to check as to your MOU, if you are covered by one, as to what additional benefits you are entitled to. They should also credit you with sick leave and vacation time earned as though you had not missed any time from work, along with giving you credit for that period of time for your seniority. But you can not recover the money from your pension plan.

Incidentially, it is not "evasive" future medical treatment, but rather "invasive" [going into teh body as opposed to one the surface or exercises].

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Answered on 12/18/09, 11:12 am


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