Many countries have a compensation program that provides wage replacement and medical coverage to workers who are injured or sick as a result of their work. Each state in the United States manages its own workers’ compensation program. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, the Federal Employees’ Compensation Program, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Program, and the Black Lung Benefits Program are all available to federal employees in the United States. These programs may provide benefits to eligible federal employees who are injured or become ill as a result of their work. An attorney who represents workers in federal workers’ compensation claims is known as a federal workers’ compensation attorney.
Workers’ compensation is designed to provide financial assistance and medical treatment to employees who are injured on the job or become ill as a result of their employment without resorting to expensive and time-consuming litigation. In contrast to most civil injury cases, where the plaintiff must prove the defendant’s negligence, in a workers’ compensation case, the worker must only prove that the illness or injury was caused his or her employment, regardless of whether the employer was negligent. The federal workers’ compensation system works in much the same way as state systems, with the exception that federal employees are covered. As a result, a federal workers’ compensation lawyer performs many of the same tasks as a state workers’ compensation lawyer.
An injured worker is not required to hire a federal workers’ compensation attorney to file a claim, but he or she may do so if he or she so desires. Employees begin the claims process submitting a claim to the appropriate office, which varies depending on the agency they work for and where they live. Following the filing of the claim, the employer will be required to file a statement, essentially agreeing or disagreeing with the employee’s claim. After that, a decision on whether to approve or deny the claim will be made. A federal workers’ compensation attorney may assist a claimant in filing the initial claim, either to ensure that the claim is not denied due to technical errors or to provide additional assurance that the claim will be approved.
A claim may, however, be denied in some cases. Although a claim can be denied for a variety of reasons, the most common reason is that the injury or illness is not clearly linked to the worker’s job. When a claim is denied, the employee has the right to appeal the decision. A claimant is more likely to require the services of a federal workers’ compensation attorney at this point. A federal workers’ compensation attorney will investigate the employee’s claim and represent him or her in front of an administrative law judge at the appeal hearing. Not only should the attorney be familiar with the law as it pertains to federal workers’ compensation claims, but he or she should also be familiar with the procedures involved in getting a claim approved.