Your Dignity Matters
Why do Employers and Insurance Companies Treat Injured Workers Like They Don’t Matter?
I worked as a defense attorney for employers and insurance companies for many years. I believe that I was one of the best in the state, and as I departed my equity partnership at a large California firm that self-impression was reinforced by industry insiders.
I have first hand, inside, experience on what employers and insurance companies think about injured workers. The reason why these companies act they way that they do when you are injured at work is not because you do not matter, but because you DO MATTER when it comes to their profits.
Employers can become hostile when someone is injured at work. Usually someone is not hostile towards someone who “does not matter”. Money can make people do very terrible things, and when an employee is injured at work it interrupts the inflow of profits to a business. They can’t replace you. Their insurance costs go up. Many employers ask “Do I have to bring them back? They are just going to get hurt again.” Other employers try to find modified work that is insulting, to attack the dignity of their injured employee, and shame them out of continuing on with their workers’ compensation claim. Why? I believe the reason is because to many employers and insurance companies, you are not a unique and special human being. You are a product that they make money from.
This dehumanization is further magnified once a large insurance company gets involved. Insurance companies, in my opinion, are designed to be emotionless money-making machines. These corporations collect premiums, and try to never pay out anything. The executives say “we don’t want to pay anymore than we legally have to.” What I believe they really mean is: “We are going to pay you (their lawyer) to find a way for us not to pay at all.” The dehumanization of injured workers permeates through all levels of the insurance corporation, all of the way down to the claims adjuster level. Training focusses on “fraud” and “malingering”, with absolutely no emphasis on medical conditions that delay an injured worker from recovering, returning to work, or getting better. They “leave that to the doctors” but then remove any doctor who advocates for injured workers from their network of doctors.
This all may seem gloomy, and discouraging. You may be second guessing “how injured am I? Do I really want to deal with all of this?”
There is certainly silver lining. While the workers compensation laws in California are very complicated, the law provides many avenues for you to defeat efforts by your employer, their insurance company, and their doctors to discourage you, defeat you, and dehumanize you.
If you have a doctor who can’t get treatment approved, you likely need a different doctor. If your doctor’s office always passes the buck to the insurance company, and the insurance company passes the buck back to your doctor, you are going to eventually give up.
If the insurance company refuses to pay your wage loss, and you can’t return to work, eventually you are going to take pennies on the dollar to pay off some of the mounting debt that keeps getting bigger every week.
If this sounds like the situation you are in, you probably need to talk to an attorney who knows how to use the laws to get your case under control.
I hope you noticed that I said you need an attorney who “knows how to use the laws”, not just an attorney who “knows the law”. You can easily look up laws on the internet and read them. Every attorney knows where to find “the law”. Unfortunately, many attorneys do not know how to use the law. Hiring an attorney who is just going to allow the insurance company to continue managing your case is going to only slightly improve your situation. That attorney’s office is also going to “pass the buck” just like the other sources of frustration in your workers compensation claim.
While the law does not give an injured worker automatic entitlement to everything they need, there is almost always a pathway, or solution, to get an injured worker benefits. You need an attorney who will get control of your case and use the law to get you your benefits when they are denied.
This requires an attorney who enjoys being a lawyer. Arguing, filing motions, going to court. Additionally, you need an attorney who knows which doctors will get your treatment authorized, and which QME’s you should be sent to.
You should take your time when looking for an attorney. Speak with several. Consider whether or not you actually are speaking with an attorney or a member of their staff. Consider whether or not they are talking just about money, and not getting you other benefits. Consider whether or not you feel like they listened to you. Since the law prevents any attorney from charging you, and you have no financial obligation to an attorney until they get you benefits, there is no risk in “interviewing” who you want to fight for you.
If your employer, the insurance company, and the doctors treat you like you don’t matter; the last thing you need is a lawyer who treats you the same way. Simply put, YOU DO MATTER. You are more valuable than just making profits for your employer and the insurance company. You deserve dignity, you deserve grace, and you deserve an attorney who will put you first and always fight for you.
Please call or email me, 7 days a week, if you would like to interview me and see if I am the attorney for you
Patrick Gorman, Esq – Gorman Law – 530-262-2168
newclient@gormancomplaw.com
