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York, PA Work Injury & Workers’ Compensation Lawyer

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You go to your job so you can make money and support yourself and your family, so it can be incredibly discouraging when a work injury takes away your income and support. Our attorneys are here to make sure that never happens and to fight for injured workers to force their employers to continue to take care of them when they are injured in the course of their job.

Workers’ Compensation benefits in Pennsylvania usually entitle workers to full coverage for all medical expenses stemming from a work injury as well as coverage for your lost wages, up to certain maximums. However, many insurance companies and employers will fight to shut these claims down or pay out limited benefits. Our attorneys work to prevent that and keep your benefits flowing.

Call (267) 651-7945 today for a free case assessment with Cardamone Law’s Workers’ Compensation attorneys.

What Happens When You Get Injured at Work in York, PA?

The Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation System comes into effect in York, PA whenever an employee gets hurt at their job. The system is put in place to ensure worker safety and the protection of their livelihood in case of a workplace injury or illness. Under this system, all injured employees in York are entitled to receive certain benefits in case of work-related injuries or illnesses:

Medical Benefits

Your employer’s insurance pays for your medical expenses for the work-related injury. These benefits should pay for not only the emergency surgeries or medical care at the hospital but also for ongoing follow-up care. Things like physical therapy and rehabilitation, medication to treat pain and manage symptoms, and even psychiatric and counseling care to deal with the mental and emotional effects of an injury should all be covered.

Wage-Loss Compensation

You receive 66 2/3% of your preinjury wages in most cases. For low-wage earners, the compensation rate might be higher, but there is a maximum limit for all. Under the limits for 2024, you receive at least 66 2/3% of your wages as long as your income is under $1,987.51 per week. This equates to a cap of $1,325.00 per week (66 2/3% of that income threshold).

For income below other thresholds, the percentage of wage-loss benefits goes up, topping out at 90% of your lost earnings for workers making $736.10 or less per week.

Specific Loss Benefits

You receive specific benefits in cases of amputation, loss of use of a body part, or disfigurement of the head, face, or neck. These specific benefits are found on a “schedule” within the Workers’ Compensation Act, laying out a specific number of weeks of benefits for each type of injury.

The law phrases these damages in terms of amputation or total loss, but total loss of function or use of that body part qualifies the same way as a total amputation. Additionally, there are rules for how to count different partial losses. For example, amputation above the knee counts as a total loss of the leg, not 3/4 or 5/8 of a loss.

Death Benefits

In cases of fatal work injuries, the deceased worker’s dependents receive lump-sum death benefits. The amount paid will often include up to $7,000 for “reasonable” burial expenses, plus wage-loss compensation paid to the spouse and children of the deceased. In cases where the victim supported someone other than their children, such as a stepchild, a sibling under 18, a parent, or a disabled family member, benefits may be paid on their account, too.

Can I Sue My Employer for a Negligent Workplace Injury in York, PA?

The simple answer is no; you cannot usually sue an employer for their negligence at work. Your sole remedy in the vast majority of cases is pursuing Workers’ Compensation.

Workers’ Compensation in York, PA functions on a no-fault basis, meaning that, regardless of who caused the injury, the injured worker is entitled to Workers’ Compensation benefits. While this means you legally cannot hold your employer accountable in court for harm in a personal injury case, it means you can still get benefits whether it was the employer’s negligence or the employee’s own fault, or no one’s fault altogether. In these cases, you would have never been able to file a lawsuit, so this system ultimately works out in your favor by still getting you compensation even in what would otherwise be a case that you could never win, let alone even file in court.

It is important to note that independent contractors are usually not covered under Workers’ Compensation. Certain types of workers are excluded from this act, such as federal employees, casual employees, and realtors. Federal workers and longshoremen are usually covered under a different system from the Pennsylvania system. However, workers with no coverage, such as contractors, may be entitled to a lawsuit instead.

There may also be situations where a worker is injured by a third party and not by anything their employer did. These workers may be entitled to initially file a Workers’ Compensation claim but also file a lawsuit against that at-fault third party. If you win that third-party case, your employer’s insurance carrier may be entitled to a “subrogation claim,” in which they claw back any of the benefits they paid you that would be compensated a second time by that lawsuit. This can lead to complex and confusing payment situations and potentially terminate your benefits, so make sure to speak with a lawyer about any outside compensation or benefits you might seek for your work injury.

How Much Do Workers’ Comp Lawyers in York, PA Charge?

The best thing about hiring our firm is that we do not charge you a thing unless we win the case for you. Since we work on a contingency fee basis, our fee is tied to your win. If we win your case for you, we get a small percentage of the winning sum. If we fail to win, you pay us nothing.

Cardamone Law is a unique boutique law firm in the sense that it has the financial leverage to go after the big fish in the sea without solely depending on client fees. This allows us to fully explore our options and help mount the most sophisticated defense to fight your claim.

Section 442 of the Workers’ Compensation Act states that lawyers cannot charge more than 20% of the award value for their services before the Workers’ Comp board or a Workers’ Comp judge, keeping your legal fees low as a matter of law. Compare this with the typical 33% or higher that personal injury lawyers usually charge for their services.

Maximizing Your Benefits in a Workers’ Comp Claim in York, PA

Thanks to our years of experience and expertise in the courtroom and on the negotiating table, we know what insurers do to try to minimize compensation claims. Not only are we fully equipped to fight them, but we are also able to beat them at their own game.

Committed to righting the wrongs done to injured workers, we enter the foray by fully deploying our resources as we aim to maximize your compensation. Fighting till the very end, we are determined to get every last penny that you are owed.

Documentation Needed for a Successful Work Injury Claim in PA

As Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists in York, PA, we have witnessed countless injured workers suffer through unnecessary delays and claim denials because their documentation was not in order. To keep this from happening to you and to bolster your claim with as much evidence as possible, keep the following records handy:

Copies of all your medical records, receipts, and reports
Photos of the injury and where it occurred, if possible
Copies of all correspondence with the employer or supervisor relating to the injury
Copies of your accident report, if one was generated
Copies of your employee records, such as pay stubs, work schedules, and employment contracts
Notes on your recovery and how it is progressing

Some of the necessary documents may be difficult to obtain, such as witness statements, but our attorneys can help you organize and collect a lot of this evidence.

When gathering medical records, you must have high-quality records from doctors who have truly taken the time to lay out what injuries and diagnoses you received, as well as an explanation for their causes. If we are filing a claim that your injuries were work-related, we will need medical evidence that the injury did, in fact, happen due to work conditions. This is especially true in cases involving occupational diseases, such as poisoning, lung diseases, and cancer, where the conditions at work need to be proven as the cause of the injury.

If your doctor – or the doctors the insurance carrier chose – are not being cooperative, our lawyers might be able to help you seek outside medical opinions.

Common Reasons for Denial in Workers’ Comp Cases in York, PA

Our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation lawyers see many cases get denied for often silly reasons. Workers’ Comp insurance carriers often make it their business to deny claims and reduce benefits for easily disproven reasons, sometimes acting in bad faith. These carriers often rely on the fact that an injured worker has few options to fight them unless they hire a lawyer and take the case to court. As such, the following grounds for denial are often given – and often grounds for a challenge or appeal:

Injury Not Work-Related

If your injury happened outside of work, it usually cannot be covered. “Outside of work” will include obvious situations like injuries on the weekend, but it also includes injuries that occurred during your commute to and from work or on a lunch break. Proper evidence of where and how the accident occurred can often overcome these false denials.

There may be legitimately questionable situations, such as an injury at a work retreat or a company picnic, but our lawyers can often fight these denials as well.

Notice

If you do not give your employer notice of the injury within 120 days of it happening, they can deny you. If they destroyed or “lost” records of your notice, keeping copies can help overcome this denial.

Work Capacity Not Reduced

Medical benefits often need to be paid in every injury case. Still, employers can often wiggle out of paying ongoing benefits if they argue you are able to return to work at your full capacity and do not need ongoing wage-loss benefits. However, medical evidence and reports on your current capacity and disability level can often overcome this and help us secure lost wage benefits for you.