Recovering Workers’ Compensation

Answer:

In New York State, if you’re involved in an accident while in the scope of your employment, you’re entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ compensation is a state law that allows you to get certain benefits through your employers as long as you’re working at the time that the accident happened. Those benefits will include wage benefits, medical benefits and what we call ancillary benefits as well. In our system, the insurance company who pays those benefits is entitled to a lien against any type of recovery that you may have. That’s important because when we are negotiating a claim, we need to know that number.
We can also try to negotiate that number down. There are certain calculations permitted to us within New York law that allow us to reduce the amount that’s being claimed by the workers’ compensation carrier. Ultimately, at the conclusion of the case, however, and in order to make sure that your workers’ compensation benefits will continue into the future, we have to satisfy the compensation carrier and come to an agreement as to what is owed and what we need to do with respect to future benefits.