Anyone who has ever accidentally thrown their back out or pulled a muscle in their arm knows how painful this sort of injury can be, and also how much it can interfere with your ability to live your normal life. Unfortunately, injuries caused by bad lifting techniques—or simply trying to lift something a little too awkward or heavy for you to manage alone—can also significantly impede your ability to work and earn a living, especially if your job involves lifting and carrying things regularly.
If you have been hurt at work in this way, you likely have grounds to seek workers’ comp benefits with a skilled workplace injury attorney’s help. If you want the best possible chance of getting the best possible claim result, you should seek the help of a seasoned Las Vegas workplace lifting injury lawyer from Shook & Stone.
Common Causes of Workplace Lifting Injuries
As mentioned above, failing to use proper technique while lifting something extremely heavy or from a low angle can quickly lead to you sustaining a serious muscle or tendon injury, or even to something like a dislocated shoulder or fractured bone in extreme cases. However, workplace lifting injuries can also be chronic rather than acute, meaning that they build up over time due to repetitive motion and stress rather than happening all at once from a single traumatic incident.
Either way, an injury you suffered while lifting something in your Las Vegas workplace should qualify you for workers’ comp benefits so long as you can prove that the injury happened while you were performing a work-related task. Our attorneys at Shook & Stone can explain what does and does not count as work-related and offer guidance about how to prove you are eligible for benefits.
What Benefits Could Workers’ Comp Provide?
Workers’ compensation should reimburse you for the costs of all medical treatment you need to reach maximum medical improvement (MMI) from your lifting injury, provided that you can prove that treatment was reasonably necessary to achieve that result. If your injury prevents you from working for a short period of time, you may also be eligible for temporary disability benefits. These are usually equal to two-thirds of what you made in wages or salary on an average workweek prior to getting hurt.
While it is rare for lifting injuries to have permanent and debilitating repercussions, any injury that does have those effects on you could qualify you for permanent disability benefits once your temporary benefits end after a maximum of 104 weeks. Finally, there may be additional benefits available to you under certain circumstances, like vocational rehabilitation services, which a workplace lifting injury lawyer in Las Vegas can help you factor into your unique claim.
A Las Vegas Workplace Lifting Injury Attorney Can Help
Any injury that happens while you are on shift at work and doing something related to your job can theoretically justify a workers’ comp claim. Lifting injuries, though, can make for uniquely complicated workers’ comp cases in more than one way, especially for people who try to pursue benefits without representation from skilled legal counsel.
The help you need to get the favorable claim result you want is available from a Las Vegas workplace lifting injury lawyer at Shook & Stone. Call today for a free consultation.
