Lower body injuries can happen in many types of workplaces. The Workers’ Compensation system offers valuable benefits to injured employees, but managing your claim can be time-consuming and frustrating.
Work with an Orlando workplace leg injury lawyer from The Florida Firm Injury and Accident Lawyers to ensure you obtain all the benefits you have earned. Our workers’ compensation attorneys have a stellar reputation for achieving outstanding results. In fact, most of our clients come to us as referrals from other lawyers or former clients.
Types of Workplace Leg Injuries
Whenever you get hurt in an incident at work or while you are performing work-related duties, you can claim workers’ compensation benefits. The program provides free medical treatment for your injury until you are healed or reach the point of maximum medical improvement (MMI). It also pays a partial wage while your injury prevents you from working.
If you have a completely sedentary job, you may be able to keep working with a leg injury, but many people miss substantial time at work while they heal. Contact an Orlando workplace injury lawyer soon after your leg injury. We can help you file your initial claim and respond to any requests for information from your employer’s workers’ compensation insurer.
Soft Tissue Injuries
The most common work-related leg injuries are ankle sprains, knee sprains, and ligament damage. These injuries can happen if you slip, trip, or fall, but they can also occur from placing a foot awkwardly or shifting your weight suddenly. These injuries often heal completely with rest, but knee injuries may require surgery. Physical therapy to strengthen the injured area may also be necessary.
Severe Traumatic Injuries
Work-related vehicle collisions, structure collapses, machinery accidents, and similar incidents can cause severe traumatic injuries. These serious incidents can lead to complex fractures, crush injuries, and amputations. You may require hospitalization, surgery, and extended rehabilitation to repair the injuries, and you could suffer a permanent impairment or disability.
Overuse Injuries
Many people must stand for long periods at work or bend their knees repeatedly. Doing so can cause overuse injuries like tendinitis or bursitis, which can cause severe pain and require you to stay off your feet for weeks. Sometimes medical intervention, like steroid injections or even surgery, is necessary. Overuse injuries can be challenging to treat, and you may not be able to return to your former job without reinjury.
Bringing a Workers’ Compensation Claim
You must notify your employer of your work-related injury within 30 days of the occurrence to get workers’ compensation benefits. Whenever feasible, it is best to notify your employer when the injury happens or as soon afterwards as possible.
You must see an approved physician to access free medical care. Under Florida Statutes § 440.13, your employer’s workers’ compensation insurer can pick your treating physician and any specialists you see. You are allowed to request a change in physician one time per claim, but the insurance company has the right to select the new physician.
Leg injuries sometimes heal slowly. Even when imaging studies indicate an injury is healed, you may still feel pain when standing or walking. If your doctor clears you to return to work before you feel your leg injury is healed, contact an Orlando lawyer at The Florida Firm Injury and Accident Lawyers for help.
Do You Have a Claim Against a Third Party?
Your employer is not liable in civil court for an injury you suffered at work. However, there may be other parties who could be liable for your injuries. When another party’s negligence contributed to the incident that caused your injury, you could bring a claim against them.
Our team will review the circumstances of your injury to determine whether a third party could be liable. Depending on how you got hurt, you might have a third-party claim against a:
- Motorist who caused an accident
- Independent contractor
- Property owner
- Machinery manufacturer
You can bring a third-party claim in addition to receiving workers’ compensation benefits.
Our Orlando workplace leg injury attorneys are skilled at bringing third-party claims on behalf of injured workers. We have obtained significant settlements and verdicts in numerous cases.
Speak With Our Orlando AttorneysAbout Your Workplace Leg Injury
Healing a leg injury may require you to stay off your feet for weeks or even longer. Your workers’ compensation benefits could be critical during this time, so secure legal help with your claim to ensure all goes smoothly.
An Orlando workplace leg injury lawyer at Colling Gilbert Wright will protect your rights and ensure you get the benefits you earned. There is no fee unless we win, so contact our workplace injury team for a free case evaluation today.