Las Vegas Workers’ Compensation Lawyer

You did your job. You got hurt doing it. Our Las Vegas workers’ compensation lawyers exist for one reason: to make an insurance company keep the promise Nevada’s workers’ compensation law makes to every injured worker — medical treatment, lost-wage benefits, disability compensation, and retraining for a new career. Since 1997, Shook & Stone has recovered more than $1 billion for injured and disabled Nevadans, including $139,000, $127,500, and $120,000 in penalties against insurance carriers that illegally delayed or denied our clients’ benefits; when a carrier breaks the rules, we make it pay for the privilege. Whether your claim was denied, your checks stopped, or you simply don’t know which form to file, call (702) 570-0000 for a free consultation. We answer 24/7. We speak Spanish. And you pay nothing unless we win.

Why and When to Hire a Las Vegas Workers’ Compensation Lawyer?

A Las Vegas workers’ compensation lawyer makes sure you meet Nevada’s strict filing deadlines, get the full benefits your wage and injury rating support, and can fight back when an insurer delays, underpays, or denies your claim. At Shook & Stone, hiring us costs nothing up front, we only get paid if you recover.

Nevada’s workers’ comp system looks simple on paper: report the injury, see a doctor, receive benefits. In practice, it is a contest between an injured worker and an insurance company — and the insurance company did not build this system to lose. Adjusters dispute the treatment your own doctor ordered; adjusters lowball the disability rating your injury has earned; adjusters blow their own legal deadlines and expect you to forgive what they would never forgive in you. When they do, Nevada law has teeth. Under NRS 616D.120, an insurer that unreasonably delays or refuses payment can be ordered to pay you a penalty of up to three times the amount it withheld — and pursuing those penalties is one of our specialties. We have won $139,000, $127,500, and $120,000 in penalties for injured Nevada workers whose carriers broke the rules.

“You’re hurt at work…It’s completely illegal for an employer to terminate an employee for filing workers’ compensation. In that situation you need an experienced Workers’ compensation attorney. For over 25 years we’ve helped injured Nevadans get the money they deserve.” — John B. Shook, Workers’ Compensation Attorney

We also protect you from employer retaliation — Nevada law prohibits firing, demoting, or punishing you for filing a legitimate claim.

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How Much Does a Workers’ Comp Lawyer Cost in Las Vegas?

Nothing up front. Shook & Stone handles Las Vegas workers’ compensation cases on a contingency fee — a percentage of what we recover for you, as permitted by Nevada Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5. If we recover nothing, you owe no attorney’s fees.

That structure matters when the paychecks have already stopped. An injured worker should never have to choose between paying rent and hiring a lawyer, so you will never receive an hourly bill from us, and your free consultation carries no obligation. The insurer has adjusters, doctors, and defense counsel working its side of the file from day one; the contingency fee puts an experienced advocate on yours at no out-of-pocket cost, and in many disputed claims the additional benefits and penalties we secure exceed the fee many times over.

Is Your PPD Rating Fair?

Use our Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) Calculator to quickly estimate the value of your final workers’ comp injury rating. Calculate Your PPD Now

What to Do If You’re Injured on the Job in Las Vegas

Report the injury to your employer in writing within 7 days (Form C-1, required by NRS 616C.015), get medical care right away, and make sure a Form C-4 is completed at your first doctor visit, you have 90 days to get your claim filed with the insurer. Then document everything.

We help you through all the steps:

1. Report it immediately, within 7 days at the latest. Tell your supervisor and complete a C-1 Notice of Injury or Occupational Disease. Verbal notice isn’t enough; get it in writing and keep a copy.
2. Get medical treatment right away. Ask your employer which physicians are authorized under its workers’ comp insurance — treating with an unauthorized provider can complicate payment. If it’s an emergency, go to the nearest ER first and sort authorization after.
3. Complete the C-4 at your first visit. The C-4 Employee’s Claim for Compensation / Report of Initial Treatment is what actually opens your claim. You fill out your portion at the doctor’s office; the physician completes the rest and must transmit it within 3 working days. The C-4 must reach the insurer within 90 days of your injury or of when you discovered a work-related illness.
4. Document everything. Photos of the scene and your injuries, names of witnesses, copies of every form, and a dated log of every conversation with your employer and the adjuster.
5. Follow your doctor’s orders until maximum medical improvement (MMI). Skipping appointments or stopping treatment early is the fastest way to hand the insurer a reason to cut off benefits.

If your injury happened in a company vehicle, off-site, or during a break, the “course and scope of employment” rules get complicated — call our team today for a free case evaluation at 702-570-0000 or contact us here in our web form.

Estimate Your Monthly Benefits

Use the Nevada Average Monthly Wage (AMW) Estimator to determine your two-thirds maximum temporary total disability pay. Start Benefit Projection

How to File a Workers’ Comp Claim in Nevada

Filing a Nevada workers’ comp claim takes two forms: the C-1 notice to your employer within 7 days, and the C-4 claim completed at your first medical visit and submitted to the insurer within 90 days. The insurance carrier then has 30 days to accept or deny your claim in writing (NRS 616C.065).

Here is the full sequence, start to finish:

1. C-1 Notice of Injury filed with your employer (within 7 days of the injury).
2. C-4 Employee’s Claim for Compensation completed at your first treatment visit; your treating physician sends it to the employer and insurer within 3 working days. Deadline: 90 days from the injury or discovery of the occupational disease.
3. Insurer’s written determination accepting or denying the claim, due within 30 days of receiving the C-4.
4. Benefit calculations based on your average monthly wage (AMW) and medical status.
5. Independent Medical Examination (IME), if the insurer requests one.
6. Hearing request through the Nevada Department of Administration Hearings Division if you disagree with any determination (see appeals below).

The claim goes to your employer’s insurer — not to the State. The Nevada Division of Industrial Relations (DIR) oversees the system, and its Southern Nevada Workers’ Compensation Section office is at 2300 W. Sahara Ave., Suite 300, but sending your C-4 there instead of to the insurer does not preserve your claim. We prepare every form, we track every deadline, we answer every insurer letter — because in this system, the paperwork is the case.

Are You Really Covered?

Our simple scenario checker analyzes common workplace injury situations to tell you if your claim is likely covered by Workers' Comp. Check Your Coverage Status

Common Workplace Injuries in Las Vegas

Las Vegas workers’ comp claims are dominated by the industries that run this city: hotel and casino housekeepers, cooks, servers, porters, and dealers with lifting, slip-and-fall, and repetitive-motion injuries; construction crews building on and off the Strip; and warehouse and delivery workers across North Las Vegas and Henderson.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts more than 2.6 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses nationwide in its most recent annual survey — and Clark County’s hospitality-heavy economy produces its own distinct patterns. We regularly represent:

• Hospitality industry worker in Las Vegas — housekeepers with shoulder, back, and knee injuries from lifting mattresses and pushing carts; slip-and-falls in kitchens and back-of-house corridors
• Hotel staff and restaurant staff — burns, lacerations, and overexertion injuries
• Casino floor employees — dealers and slot technicians with carpal tunnel and other repetitive stress injuries (we recovered workers’ comp and disability benefits for a Monte Carlo casino employee injured on the job)
• Construction workers — falls from height, scaffold and crane incidents, struck-by and caught-between accidents, electrocution
• Warehouse, distribution, and delivery workers — forklift accidents, heavy-lifting back injuries, loading-dock incidents
• Healthcare workers — patient-handling injuries and needlesticks
• Occupational illnesses — respiratory disease, hearing loss, and conditions from long-term chemical exposure

Whatever the injury — from a strain that needs six weeks of physical therapy to a catastrophic work injury that ends a career — the type and severity drive both your treatment plan and the value of your claim.

Who Qualifies for Workers’ Comp Benefits in Nevada?

Nearly every Nevada employee is covered from their first minute on the job — including part-time workers and undocumented workers. Every Nevada employer with even one employee must carry workers’ compensation insurance (NRS 616B.633). The main exceptions are true independent contractors and certain gig workers.

Covered: full-time and part-time employees in traditional roles — office staff, hotel and restaurant workers, warehouse employees, construction workers (including many subcontractors under NRS 616A.105’s definition of “employee”). Coverage begins the moment you start job-related duties, including orientation and training.

Gray areas: rideshare and delivery drivers, freelancers, and temp workers. Eligibility turns on how much control the company exercises over your work — not your job title. Employers sometimes deliberately misclassify employees as independent contractors to dodge premiums; if that happened to you, you may still qualify. (Driving for a rideshare app? Read what happens if you’re injured as a rideshare or delivery driver.)

What’s not covered: injuries caused by your own intoxication or unlawful drug use, or injuries you inflicted intentionally. And if you first give notice of injury after your employment has ended, Nevada law presumes the injury didn’t happen at work, a presumption you can rebut with evidence, but one insurers use aggressively.

If your employer has no insurance: you can still receive benefits through Nevada’s Uninsured Employers’ Claim Account, administered by the DIR, and the employer faces fines and reimbursement orders under NRS 616C.220. These claims involve extra hearings and investigation — exactly the situation to have counsel.

Your claim may not be as “closed” as you think: Nevada law (NRS 616C.390) lets many injured workers reopen a closed claim, sometimes years later, if the work injury worsens. Claims that closed without a disability award have shorter reopening windows, so get legal advice before assuming your case is over. This is a right most injured workers never learn they have.

Nevada Workers’ Comp Benefits: What You Can Receive

Nevada workers’ compensation pays for all medical treatment related to your work injury plus wage-replacement benefits of up to 66⅔% of your average monthly wage (AMW), subject to the state’s annual maximum. Depending on your injury, you may receive temporary or permanent disability payments, vocational retraining, or — for families of workers killed on the job — death benefits.

Medical treatment

Every reasonable and necessary cost of treating your work injury is covered, with no deductible or copay: emergency care, hospital admission, surgery, physical therapy and rehabilitation, prescriptions and medical devices, follow-up care, and mileage reimbursement for travel to and from authorized appointments. Care must come from providers authorized under your employer’s plan except in emergencies.

Temporary Total Disability (TTD)

If your doctor takes you off work entirely — for at least 5 consecutive days, or 5 cumulative days within a 20-day period — or your employer can’t accommodate your restrictions, TTD pays 66⅔% of your AMW (NRS 616C.475), up to Nevada’s statutory maximum. Payments continue until your doctor releases you to work, your employer offers work within your restrictions, or you reach maximum medical improvement (MMI).

 Estimate your monthly benefits. Use our Nevada Average Monthly Wage (AMW) Estimator to project your two-thirds TTD pay. Start Benefit Projection

Temporary Partial Disability (TPD)

If you return on light duty at lower pay, TPD makes up the difference between your old wage and your reduced wage, for up to 24 months (NRS 616C.500). Returning to work? Read our guide to light duty and modified work in Nevada.

Permanent Partial Disability (PPD)

When you reach MMI with lasting impairment, a rating physician assigns you a whole-person impairment percentage. Nevada pays 0.6% of your AMW for every 1% of impairment (NRS 616C.490), in installments running until age 70 or for 5 years, whichever is later — and many workers can elect a lump-sum payout instead. Insurers routinely schedule ratings with physicians who rate low; you have the right to challenge an unfair rating.

Is Your PPD Rating Fair?

Use our Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) Calculator to quickly estimate the value of your final workers’ comp injury rating.

Calculate Your PPD Now With Our Free Calculator

Permanent Total Disability (PTD)

For the rare injuries that permanently prevent any return to work, PTD pays 66⅔% of your AMW for the duration of the disability (NRS 616C.440), based on medical and vocational evidence.

Vocational rehabilitation

If you’re able to work but can’t return to your old job, Nevada funds retraining or education for a new career (NRS 616C.590). You qualify when (1) you’re physically able to work, (2) your doctor has imposed permanent restrictions, (3) your employer has no job within those restrictions, and (4) you haven’t found other suitable work. Your employer must make reasonable efforts to place you first — if it doesn’t, that failure can’t be used to cut your benefits.

Death benefits

When a workplace injury or occupational disease takes a worker’s life, dependents can receive up to $10,000 for burial expenses plus two-thirds of the worker’s average monthly wage (NRS 616C.505). A surviving spouse can generally receive benefits for life; children receive them to age 18 (or 22 as full-time students). Death benefits are available to families of undocumented workers, and the claim must be filed within one year of the death. If a third party caused the death, a separate wrongful death claim may also apply.

How to Appeal a Denied Workers’ Comp Claim in Nevada

You have 70 days from the insurer’s written denial to request a hearing before a Hearing Officer at the Nevada Department of Administration Hearings Division (NRS 616C.315). If you lose there, you have 30 days to appeal to an Appeals Officer (NRS 616C.345), and 30 days after that decision to petition the district court for judicial review. A denial letter is the beginning of the fight — not the end.

Here’s how the process runs for Las Vegas workers:

1. Request for Hearing (within 70 days). File the Request for Hearing form with the insurer’s denial letter attached. Las Vegas hearings are handled by the Hearings Division at 2200 S. Rancho Drive. Once your request is received, a hearing is typically scheduled within days and set to take place within 30 days, with at least 15 days’ notice. You can appear in person, by phone, or through a written position statement.
2. Hearing Officer decision. The hearing is informal — you present medical records, wage documentation, and your account; the insurer presents its side.
3. Appeals Officer (within 30 days of the Hearing Officer’s decision). This level is formal and on the record; evidence is submitted anew, and doctors may testify. Appeals Officers generally issue decisions within 90 days of the hearing.
4. Judicial review (within 30 days). A district court reviews the Appeals Officer’s decision for legal error.

Deadlines at every stage are unforgiving — miss one and the decision against you becomes final. And if the insurer ignores an order along the way, Nevada law punishes it: we secured a $127,500 penalty for a client after the carrier defied a Hearing Officer’s order. If you’ve received a denial, start with our claim denial and appeals resources, then call us — the earlier we’re involved, the stronger the record we can build.

Third-Party Claims: When You Can Sue in Addition to Workers’ Comp

Workers’ comp is no-fault — you can’t sue your employer for a covered injury. But when someone other than your employer caused your injury, you can file a separate personal injury lawsuit on top of your workers’ comp claim, recovering damages comp never pays: full lost wages, pain and suffering, and more.

Third parties are everywhere in Las Vegas workplaces: the subcontractor whose crew dropped material on you at a Strip construction site, the manufacturer of the defective scaffold or forklift, the delivery driver who hit you while you were working, the maintenance contractor who left the hotel corridor floor slick. Unlike your comp claim, a third-party lawsuit requires proving negligence — which is why these cases belong with a firm that handles both workers’ compensation and personal injury under one roof. We coordinate the two claims so a third-party recovery doesn’t unnecessarily jeopardize your comp benefits, and so the insurer’s reimbursement rights are negotiated down rather than paid in full. Learn more about the accident types that commonly support third-party claims on our Las Vegas work injury page.

Recent Workers’ Compensation Results

We do not publish these numbers to boast. We publish them because injured workers deserve to know that when an insurer breaks the rules in Nevada, someone makes it pay:

• $139,000 in penalties secured for an injured Nevada worker after the insurance carrier violated the law.
• $127,500 penalty awarded after an insurer ignored a Hearing Officer’s order.
• $120,000 penalty awarded after an insurer illegally delayed benefits.
• Workers’ comp and disability recovery for a casino employee injured at the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts.

Las Vegas Workers’ Compensation FAQ

How long do I have to file a workers’ comp claim in Nevada?

You must notify your employer within 7 days of the injury (Form C-1) and file your C-4 claim within 90 days of the injury or of discovering an occupational disease. Missing the 90-day deadline can bar your claim entirely, so file early — and see a doctor immediately even if the injury seems minor.

How much does workers’ comp pay in Nevada?

Wage-replacement benefits pay 66⅔% of your average monthly wage, up to Nevada’s annual statutory maximum, and all injury-related medical care is covered in full. Your exact benefit depends on your wage history and disability status — see our full breakdown of what workers’ comp pays in Las Vegas or use our AMW estimator.

Can I be fired while on workers’ comp in Nevada?

Nevada is an at-will state, but your employer cannot fire, demote, or punish you for filing a legitimate workers’ comp claim — that’s illegal retaliation. If you were terminated after filing, read can I be fired while on workers’ compensation in Nevada and talk to our worker’s compensation retaliation attorneys.

When should I hire a Las Vegas workers’ compensation attorney?

Immediately if your claim was denied, your checks are late, your rating seems low, or your injury is serious enough to keep you off work. Early involvement lets us build the medical record correctly from the start — and consultations are free, so there’s no reason to wait and guess.

What happens if my workers’ compensation claim is denied?

You have 70 days to request a hearing before a Nevada Hearing Officer, then 30 days to reach an Appeals Officer, then 30 days for judicial review. Many denials are reversed on appeal with the right medical evidence — and insurers that delay unreasonably can owe you penalties of up to three times the withheld amount.

What should I do if I am injured at work in Nevada?

Report it to your supervisor in writing right away (within 7 days), get authorized medical treatment, complete the C-4 form at your first visit, and document everything — photos, witnesses, and every conversation with your employer or the adjuster. Then follow your doctor’s orders until you reach maximum medical improvement.

Who qualifies for workers’ compensation benefits in Nevada?

Nearly all employees — full-time, part-time, and undocumented workers included — are covered from their first day, because every Nevada employer with at least one employee must carry coverage. True independent contractors generally aren’t covered, but misclassified workers often still qualify. When in doubt, have your classification reviewed.

What can I do if my employer does not have workers’ compensation insurance?

You can still receive benefits through Nevada’s Uninsured Employers’ Claim Account, administered by the Division of Industrial Relations, and your employer faces steep penalties under NRS 616C.220. These claims involve additional hearings and investigation, so legal representation makes a significant practical difference.

Visit Our Downtown Las Vegas Office

Shook & Stone’s main office is in downtown Las Vegas at 710 S. 4th Street, Las Vegas, NV 89101, just a short drive from the Nevada Department of Administration Hearings Division on S. Rancho Drive, where Las Vegas workers’ comp hearings and appeals are held, and from the DIR Workers’ Compensation Section office on W. Sahara Avenue. Call 702-570-0000 to speak 24/7.

We represent injured workers throughout Clark County and Southern Nevada, including Downtown Las Vegas, the Strip, Paradise, Spring Valley, Winchester, Sunrise Manor, Enterprise, Henderson, Green Valley, North Las Vegas, Summerlin, Centennial Hills, Boulder City, Lake Las Vegas, Whitney, Blue Diamond, Anthem, and Pahrump. We also serve Northern Nevada from our Reno office at 338 Ryland Street, and West Las Vegas from our Summerlin office at 9455 W. Russell Road, Suite 100. Consultations are available in English and Spanish — versión en español.

Talk to an Award-Winning Las Vegas Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Today — Free

You did the work. You reported the injury. You filed every form the law required. And now an insurance company is deciding whether your family gets paid — as if that decision were its alone to make.

It is not.

For nearly three decades, Shook & Stone Injury Lawyers has stood between injured Nevada workers and the carriers that underestimate them: recovering more than $1 billion, voted ‘Best of Las Vegas’, reversing denials that should never have been written, and collecting six-figure penalties from insurers that thought the deadlines applied only to you. We know this system; we know its pressure points; and we know how to win inside it.

Call (702) 570-0000 now for a free consultation, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no fee unless we win, and there is no reason to face them alone.