Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ Compensation pays benefits to workers injured on the job, but it doesn’t pay for pain and suffering and includes only a percentage of the wages you earned at the time you were hurt. Workers’ Compensation does not pay for pain and suffering. Now more than ever, insurance companies will aggressively fight to reduce your weekly benefit or suspend it all together.
Find out how we can help and how you can find peace of mind.
John Sciortino has been recognized as “one of the foremost advocates for Workers’ Compensation reform”. Under John’s leadership, the firm of Segar & Sciortino is your greatest advocate to assure you’re treated fairly by your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance and their lawyers.
Segar & Sciortino is on your side. (585) 475-1100
The Workers’ Compensation Board is now closing many cases without a hearing and sometimes without awarding the injured worker one dollar of compensation. The workers’ compensation insurance companies don’t and won’t advise you of all of your rights and responsibilities under the Workers’ Compensation Law. For example:
- You must file a claim within two years of your accident.
- You are entitled to full medical coverage for your accident for life, even if you leave your job or retire.
- Workers’ compensation does not pay for pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life, but you may be entitled to a monetary award (called a schedule loss of use award) even if you have not lost one minute of work.
- If you are earning less money compared to what you were earning before you got hurt, you may be entitled to weekly compensation checks even if you go back to work.
- The Workers’ Compensation Board may close your case without a hearing. It is then your responsibility to provide medical evidence of a permanent injury.
- If you are in a work-related car accident, you can also claim no-fault insurance benefits. You may be also entitled to collect Social Security Disability.
- You cannot sue your employer for pain and suffering, even if your employer’s carelessness caused your injury. However, if you are hurt at work due to someone else’s fault, the manufacturer of a defective product, for example, you may be entitled to sue that responsible "third party" for your pain and suffering.
- If you fall from a ladder or scaffold while working at a construction site, the New York Scaffold Law (Labor Law §240) provides you additional rights.