Workers’ Compensation Employer Defense
Encyclopedia
When a worker has an injury, all US states have a structure of laws designed to provide multiple benefits to that injured worker. These laws are referred to as workers’ compensation
and the laws define the benefits, identify all of the parties, and dictate the manner and method for dispensing such benefits
. Since every employee, by definition, must work for some employer, when there is a dispute over the benefits or the injury itself, these two primary entities find themselves in conflict within the system. These controversies are thereafter resolved through either negotiation or trial, and the practice of representing the employer side is referred to as workers’ compensation employer defense.
For example, the major entities in most US state systems are:
The attorneys who regularly perform this kind of work do so with such frequency that their practice becomes specialized, and states have endeavored to acknowledge and control this focus by certification
or licensing of the practitioners as designated specialists within the field, after appropriate education, time and successful testing has been accomplished.
Workers' compensation
Workers' compensation is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence...
and the laws define the benefits, identify all of the parties, and dictate the manner and method for dispensing such benefits
Employee benefit
Employee benefits and benefits in kind are various non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries...
. Since every employee, by definition, must work for some employer, when there is a dispute over the benefits or the injury itself, these two primary entities find themselves in conflict within the system. These controversies are thereafter resolved through either negotiation or trial, and the practice of representing the employer side is referred to as workers’ compensation employer defense.
Examples
The system itself involves billions of dollars in payments per year and involves a broad spectrum of a sub-communities of different and often conflicting interests and individualsFor example, the major entities in most US state systems are:
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- JudgeJudgeA judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s - Lawyers (for both sides)
- Insurance company claims examiners
- Third party administrators for self insured employers and their examiners
- Injured workers (employees)
- Employers
- DoctorsPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and various medical providers - Bill collectors for the doctors and other providers
- Interpreters
- Court reporters
- Photocopy companies
- Private investigators
- Bill reviewers
- Professional reviewers of requests for medical treatment
- Expert witnesses
- Judge
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The attorneys who regularly perform this kind of work do so with such frequency that their practice becomes specialized, and states have endeavored to acknowledge and control this focus by certification
Certification
Certification refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, assessment, or audit...
or licensing of the practitioners as designated specialists within the field, after appropriate education, time and successful testing has been accomplished.