Work injuries and workers’ compensation

There can be and sometimes is a difference between how something “looks on paper” and how it works in actual practice. Workers’ compensation claims in Tennessee are one example of how this distinction can occur.

Theoretically, at least, receiving workers’ compensation benefits should be simple. You are injured in a work-related accident, or incur a work-related illness; you file a benefits claim for income replacement and medical expense benefits; the benefits help you to get by until you can return to work. 

But in our experience at Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette, we know that what sounds so straightforward in concept can become something else when your employer or its insurer have different ideas about what qualifies for workers’ compensation benefits than you do. The employer can deny that your injury or illness had anything to do with your work. Its insurer can put profits first, and either challenge your claim or attempt to drag its feet when it comes to paying out benefits.

Workers’ compensation is usually the only claim an employee has against their own employer. When another party, such as a negligent driver, a subcontractor, or the maker of defective equipment, helped cause the injury, Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette can pursue a third-party claim that covers losses workers’ compensation does not.