In Las Vegas, hotel staff are vital to the city’s daily operations and future sustainability. Anyone who gets hurt or sick while working in a hotel should have access to various benefits through their employer’s workers’ compensation insurance.
As far too many injured or ill workers learn every year, though, actually getting the benefits you should be entitled to can be much more difficult in practice than it should be in theory. This is especially true if you try to pursue your claim without support from a seasoned workers’ comp attorney with experience handling claims in the hospitality industry. Even if you just need help covering short-term medical bills and wage loss, retaining a Las Vegas hotel staff workers’ compensation lawyer from Shook & Stone could make a big difference in what benefits you ultimately receive and how well you can recover from your injury or illness in the long term.
What to Do After Suffering a Work-Related Injury
It’s worth emphasizing that workers’ comp in Nevada is a “fault-free” process. In other words, you don’t need to prove that anyone specifically caused your injury through reckless or careless misconduct, just that it’s more likely than not your injury occurred at work or stemmed directly from work-related conditions. That said, there are still several steps you’ll need to take to get a workers’ comp claim started and ensure you can access benefits through the coverage your employer should provide you.
First and foremost, you must fill out and submit an Incident Report to your employer within seven days of learning you suffered a work-related injury or illness. Then, you’ll need to seek medical treatment from a workers’ compensation doctor and, with their input, complete an Employee’s Claim for Compensation to be submitted to your employer’s workers’ comp insurance provider no later than 90 days after first sustaining harm.
Both these forms should be provided to you by your employer, but they are also available online through the Division of Industrial Relations within the Nevada Department of Business and Industry. During a private meeting, our knowledgeable attorneys can go into more detail about what you’ll need to do as a Las Vegas hotel staff employee to apply for workers’ compensation.
What Benefits Could Workers’ Comp Provide?
Workers’ comp should reimburse you for all reasonably necessary medical expenses stemming from your work-related injury or illness, as well as a significant portion—usually about two-thirds of your usual average wage—of lost income if you end up having to miss work. If your injury or illness leaves you with a long-term disability, you may be able to have those temporary disability benefits extended into permanent partial or total disability benefits.
That said, workers’ comp insurance providers are like any other insurance company. They’ll do almost anything to minimize their financial liability, even in situations clearly covered by policies they sold. Dealing with insurance adjusters and other people who might get in the way of you getting paid fairly is one of many ways a capable hotel staff workers’ compensation lawyer in Las Vegas could help you.
Talk to a Las Vegas Hotel Staff Workers’ Compensation Attorney Today
Workers’ comp benefits can be deceptively difficult to obtain, even if you have strong grounds for a claim. If you were hurt or sick recently while working in a hotel in Las Vegas, though, navigating through the workers’ comp system could be vital to protecting your best interests now and well into the future.
A Las Vegas hotel staff workers’ compensation lawyer from Shook & Stone could help you enforce your rights and get paid what you deserve. Call today for a free consultation.
