Empowering Injured Workers: Navigating the Workers’ Compensation Journey
Embark on a journey through workers’ compensation law as Haylee Bramlet, host of The Legal Odyssey Podcast, engages in a compelling conversation with our very own Attorney, Milena Velilla. This enlightening conversation highlights crucial insights into the misconceptions surrounding insurance companies, emphasizes the importance of early legal intervention, and empowers injured workers with actionable advice on securing their rights.
In this exclusive interview, Milena unravels the nuances of workplace injuries alongside host Haylee. Together, they explore the essence of specific incidents versus cumulative traumas, demystifying the complexities often associated with understanding and obtaining workers’ compensation benefits as an injured worker.
Join this engaging conversation between Haylee and Milena, shedding light on the intricacies of workers’ compensation law. Gain valuable insights, uncover practical guidance, and embark on a journey toward understanding and advocating for equitable outcomes for injured workers. Dive in below or click here to listen to the podcast episode.
Why Did You Choose to Pursue a Career in Law?
I grew up in Medellin, Colombia, and growing up, there was no real justice system. You could buy yourself out of any problem. There was a ton of crime. I remember being little and waiting by the window, making sure my parents would get home, because I was afraid that they were going to get kidnapped or murdered. Sure, it sounds really foreign now, because of being here in the United States for so long. When I moved to the United States, I saw a legal system that worked. I really wanted to be a part of that system. I decided to go to law school and eventually become a lawyer!
What Made You Decide to Focus on Defending Workplace Injuries and Supporting Individuals Through Workers’ Compensation Claims?
I initially thought I wanted to do criminal law, family law or immigration law. I wanted to do anything that I thought could help people of my Hispanic community. After law school, I was on vacation and my parents basically told me, Milena, it’s time to come home. It’s time to get a job, get it together. I was just job searching through UC Davis and I saw that one of my old law school friends had posted a job for a workers’ compensation law firm.
I had no idea what workers’ compensation was, butI thought, let me email her. When I emailed her, my only question was, “Do you enjoy your job?” And she said, “I love it. I get to have client contact. I get to go to court. I get to go to depositions and I’m really making an impact in the community.” And it sold me.
What is a Workplace Injury?
Usually when we talk about a workplace injury, we talk about either a specific injury or a cumulative trauma. A specific injury is when you’re walking up the stairs and you fall and you break your leg. It happened there, it’s a specific incident, that’s a specific injury. It doesn’t matter if you were at fault because workers’ compensation is a no-fault system. So it could have been that you were really clumsy and you fell, you still have a right to workers’ compensation benefits.
The second type of injury we deal with, it’s called cumulative trauma. Most people do not understand cumulative trauma because it’s not a specific injury. With cumulative trauma, we’re saying, say Joe, works as a construction worker and he’s been working doing construction for 20 years and now he needs shoulder replacement in his back. He might need diffusion or he’s having issues with his knees.
It’s not that he fell when this happened, it’s that working continuously doing the same heavy work for such a long period of time caused this issue. A cumulative trauma is a workplace injury. With a cumulative trauma, the employee would also be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, just like in a specific injury. However, a lot of cumulative traumas initially get denied or delayed, and that’s when an attorney can really step in and try to help out.
It seems unfair that somebody gives their whole life to a company or to work, and then they’re unable to work and have no benefits, right? That is where recognizing cumulative trauma as a workplace injury becomes so critical. That’s where I get a lot of satisfaction, knowing that I’m helping someone who otherwise would have not even thought this is from work or figured out how to get the resources or the help they need.
How Can Employees Feel Safe Reporting Workplace Injuries?
I was listening to some of your previous episodes of The Legal Odyssey and there was a labor and employment attorney that was talking about wrongful termination. If you report a workplace injury and face any discrimination as a result of the report, that is discrimination because of being injured at work. In that situation, I would either file what’s called the 132A, which is a discrimination because of being injured at work action, or I would refer them to an employment attorney because employees are legally protected from discrimination because of being injured or reporting a workplace injury.
It’s important for employees to keep in mind that many employers carry workers’ compensation insurance to help cover them when an employee faces a workplace injury. It is also critical to hear that in most cases, there’s no retribution from the employer for reporting a workplace injury. It does happen, and when it does, having an attorney will help. If it is a situation where I feel like I, the expert in workers compensation law, can’t help, then I go ahead and refer them to a labor and employment attorney. Most of the time, the goal of the employer and the insurance and everyone surrounding the claim is to get that applicant or the injured worker in a position so they can return to work.
Do not be afraid to report your workplace injury and do not be afraid to get an attorney for your case if you need one. I see a lot of injured workers who are afraid to get an attorney because they are afraid that getting an attorney is going to shift the course of their employment. Again, just because an attorney becomes involved should not change the employer’s response or actions related to the case or claim. All the attorney is doing is protecting their rights and maximizing their benefits. It goes both ways, right? The insurance is going to try to minimize the benefits or to protect themselves, and my job is to protect an injured worker, an employee and to get a sort of equitable result.
Does the Injured Worker File the Workers’ Compensation Claim?
Most of the time the injured worker will report the injury. They do not necessarily file a workers’ compensation claim. At that point, the employer is supposed to provide them with a DWC 1 Form, which declares the written report of the injury.
However, it could be different if someone has realized a cumulative trauma exists. For example, if somebody came into my office and said, I’m getting fired because I went to the doctor because my back really hurts, but they didn’t have a specific injury. I then have a conversation with them and ask questions to understand the nature of their work. Sometimes, we uncover that the injury they have or the change in their abilities to perform the same way as they did in the past is due to a cumulative trauma. In that case, we go ahead and file a cumulative trauma claim and I as the attorney would assist in filing that claim and reporting that cumulative trauma injury.
What Role Does an Attorney Play in the Workers Compensation Process?
Workers compensation is designed to allow the injured worker to do this by themselves. However, as an injured worker, you are going against an insurance company that knows exactly what they’re doing. An insurance company that is working to minimize benefits paid out. Most injured workers do not know what they’re doing.
At any time during the whole process of an injury, an attorney can come in to help. It’s my position that the earlier on that you get an attorney, the better. At the end of the day, if you don’t get an attorney until the end of the case where there’s already a qualified medical evaluator and there’s already reports, getting out of that mess for the attorney is going to be a lot more difficult. Truthfully, a lot of attorneys won’t even take those cases because they’re too far down the rabbit hole for the attorney to step in and be able to make a huge difference for the injured worker.
There is a common misconception when an injured worker receives the paperwork from the insurance. Initially the injured worker may feel as though it’s like their personal insurance. They think insurance is supposed to help and work with you throughout the injury. They are not working for the injured worker.
I see some injured workers that end up in really bad situations because they think that the workers’ compensation insurance carrier is there to help them and is guiding them in the correct way. When in fact, their job is to minimize losses. To provide benefits, but provide just the benefits that are exactly due and minimize those. My job is to maximize those benefits.
The workers compensation insurance will send the injured worker to a particular doctor of their choosing. Most injured workers don’t know that they have the choice, or the right to, select another doctor. Often, when I come in as an attorney, I look at what doctors are within the network of that insurance and try to select a doctor that I think will advocate for my client or for the injured worker, and that will help the injured worker get better and obtain better results.
What are some of the best ways that an injured worker in California can find an attorney to assist them with their workers compensation claim?
I would make sure that someone in the office of workers compensation attorney you call picks up the phone. I would make sure that if you speak Spanish or another language that either the attorney can speak that language or the staff is ready to be there and translate. I think open lines of communication between the workers’ compensation law firm and the injured worker are critical. I would also try to pick an attorney that’s closer in location to you. At the end of the day, if you have to go to court hearings or anything, you’re going to have to be present and the attorney is likely going to venue that case where their office is located. You want to be able to participate.
How long does it usually take to process through workers’ compensation claims from beginning to end?
I can’t necessarily give you a solid timeline because the injured worker is going to go through treatment until they achieve what we call maximum medical improvement. Maximum medical improvement is basically when the doctors say you’re not going to get any better or any worse in the next six months. Basically, you have plateaued. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how long that’s going to be. It is different for each injured worker and it is different for each injury. I have had cases that last about two to three years. I have had cases that have been about six months. It has the potential of being a really long recovery and therefore a relationship with your workers compensation attorney. In my caseload, I even have injuries that I’ve been dealing with since 2014, so almost 10 years. There are attorneys that have clients for a lot longer than that too.
Do You Have Any Further Advice for Injured Workers in California?
Know your rights. The resources to understand your rights as an injured worker are readily available. If you go into the DIR website, it tells you what your rights are.
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