Boulder Work Injury Attorney

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Each year in Colorado, an average of 112 workers pass away as a result of job-related incidents. That’s around one work-related death every three to four days. Thousands more suffer serious injury throughout the year.

Colorado law protects those who get sick or hurt while working. Victims injured as a result of employment can make a workers’ compensation claim to recover payment for medical bills, lost wages, and certain other damages. The process for making these claims can be complicated, though.

Daniels & Scriven, PC can help. Our Boulder personal injury lawyers understand Colorado workers’ compensation laws and have helped many injured employees maximize the compensation available to them after their job harmed them. Give us a call today at (720) 863-6006 to schedule a free consultation if you were hurt at work to see what we can do to help you.

Common Types of Workplace Injuries

Employers are required to maintain a safe work environment. Employees may sustain injuries on the job because of an accident, such as falling from heights, a plant explosion, or other workplace accident. These accidents can cause injuries, such as:

Broken bones
Strained backs
Wrist sprains
Hernias
Neck and back injuries
Traumatic brain injuries
Spinal cord injuries
Soft tissue injuries
Amputations
Organ damage
Amputations
Vision or hearing loss

Workers’ compensation benefits also cover repetitive motion injuries and overexertion injuries. Additionally, it covers occupational illnesses that develop over time.

In addition to physical injuries and ailments, Colorado’s workers’ compensation law also specifically covers mental impairments, which it defines as a non-physical workplace injury a worker sustains in response to visual or audible exposure to certain psychologically traumatic events.

An experienced Boulder work injury lawyer can review your case and explain whether you are eligible for benefits.

What Should I Do After a Workplace Injury?

If you are injured at work, it is crucial you take immediate action to protect your health and legal rights. Here is a checklist of vital first steps to take:

Seek medical attention – If you are seriously injured, go to the nearest emergency room or call an ambulance. If you don’t require immediate medical treatment, ask your employer for their “designated provider list,” which is a list of up to four doctors or clinics that you can select as your authorized treating physician. If your employer does not give you this list, you can select your own doctor within seven business days of your unanswered request. Keep documentation to establish you made the request.
Report the accident – You must report your injury to your employer immediately. You must also provide written notice of the injury within four days of the accident.
Follow your doctor’s orders – Even though you may be anxious to return to work and receive your regular rate of pay, returning too soon can cause you to reinjure yourself and prevent you from recovering the compensation you deserve. Listen to all restrictions and request reasonable accommodations as necessary.
Document the accident – If possible, ask employees if they saw your accident and to write a brief statement about what happened. Take pictures of your injuries and the accident scene.

You should also reach out to an experienced workers’ compensation attorney who can assist you with the next steps, which will include filing paperwork to initiate a workers’ compensation claim with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Your lawyer can handle communication with the insurance company and your employer, protect your rights, safeguard your interests, address disputes, and negotiate fair compensation on your behalf.

What Are Your Rights After a Boulder Work Injury?

Work injuries are treated differently than most injury claims because they are governed under the Colorado Workers’ Compensation Act.

Employers are required to buy workers’ compensation insurance, which provides coverage for illnesses or injuries that happen on-the-job. If you are hurt or made sick by the performance of your work duties, you cannot sue your employer but instead must make a workers’ compensation claim.

The benefit of a workers’ comp claim is that you can recover compensation regardless of whether the employer was negligent in causing the injury. In fact, even if you were to blame, you can usually recover payment for damages except in limited circumstances. The downside is that you cannot get compensation for all the things you might be able to recover for in a personal injury claim, such as pain and suffering.

You’ll need to report your work injury and follow the appropriate process to make your damage claim to get the payments available to you, and one of our Boulder injury lawyers can help you to do that.

Compensation for A Boulder Work Injury

The Colorado Department of Labor provides details on the types of compensation an injured worker may collect. This includes:

Medical bills: If you need treatment as a result of your injuries, costs should be covered by workers’ compensation insurance.
Temporary disability/lost wages: You can receive temporary total or partial disability benefits if your injury causes you to miss work or restricts you to light duty work for a period of time. Benefits begin once you miss three shifts from work, and if you miss more than two weeks, you’ll also be paid for the missed time during this initial three shift waiting period.
Permanent disability. Once you have reached Maximum Medical Improvement, if you remain permanently impaired by your disability, you’ll be able to receive permanent partial or total disability benefits. For some losses, such as lost function to your legs or lost vision, you receive a scheduled impairment and are paid a set amount of compensation. CO Code § 8-42-107 (2022) specifies the benefits you receive for a scheduled impairment. In other cases, you’ll receive a non-scheduled or “whole person” impairment. Your doctor determines your level of impairment in the form of a percentage.

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-42-107.5 places a limit on the disability payments you can receive, with the maximum changing over time.

Understanding the benefits you’re entitled to can be complicated, so it’s best to get help from an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer who can assist you with getting the maximum workers’ comp award or settlement.

Detailed Workers’ Compensation Explanation

Workers’ compensation is an insurance system that provides certain benefits to workers injured on the job. This is a no-fault system, so you can potentially recover workers’ compensation benefits without having to prove your employer was negligent or even if you caused the injuries yourself. However, you must be able to establish you were injured while performing work duties within the course and scope of your employment. According to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, all businesses in Colorado with employees must maintain workers’ compensation coverage.

Workers’ compensation is a replacement for the tort system. Before workers’ compensation, injured workers would have to file a lawsuit against their employers and prove their employer was negligent in causing their injuries. This was a more difficult standard to meet and put employees in a precarious position by making them an adversary against their employers. Workers’ compensation provides a much simpler and streamlined approach to receiving medical care and partial wage replacement benefits after an on-the-job injury.

Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Workers’ compensation provides the following benefits to eligible workers injured on the job:

Medical benefits – Workers’ compensation covers all necessary medical expenses related to your workplace accident or illness. You can also receive reimbursement for mileage and parking related to your medical appointments.
Permanent total disability benefits – PTD benefits are paid to employees who suffer catastrophic injuries that prevent them from ever working again. These benefits equal two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wage, up to a state maximum. They are paid for the remainder of the injured worker’s life.
Permanent partial disability benefits – PPD benefits are paid if you suffered a permanent loss of function of a body party or body system. The amount of your benefits and the length of time you receive them depend on the nature of your injury.
Temporary partial disability benefits – TPD benefits replace a portion of the wages you lose when you return to work but are not fully able to earn your normal rate of pay. The amount of your benefits is two-thirds of the difference between your regular weekly wage and the wages you earn after the accident. These benefits cease when you return to work at your regular rate of pay.
Temporary total disability benefits – TTD benefits are paid as two-thirds of your average weekly wages every two weeks. You can receive these benefits if you cannot work at all due to an injury. They last until your doctor says you can return to work.

Appeal Process

If your workers’ compensation claim is initially denied (many are), your workers’ comp lawyer can initiate an appeal. Some claims are quickly resolved once a lawyer gets involved. For example, your claim may have been missing necessary evidence to support it or denied for some other administrative reason.

You must act quickly if your claim is denied. Colorado only gives you 20 days to file a Petition to Review after receiving the denial. Your lawyer will need time to prepare this legal filing and review your case. This is just the first step and gives your employer notice of your intent to appeal. You will need to submit a written brief with compelling legal arguments about how your claim was wrongfully denied. An experienced workers’ compensation attorney can handle this process, gather supporting evidence, and make strong legal arguments on your behalf. Contact us today for your free consultation.

Getting Help from a Boulder Work Injury Lawyer

When you get hurt-on-the-job, you need help navigating the complex workers’ compensation system to get the compensation you deserve. Call Daniels & Scriven, PC today at (720) 863-6006 to schedule your free consultation and learn how our experienced Boulder work injury lawyers can help you.