Employment in the construction industry has seen a double-digit increase in the last decade. Unfortunately, injuries to workers during this time have also increased. The construction industry is one of the most dangerous places to work in the U.S.

When construction workers get hurt on the job, their employer’s workers’ compensation policy often covers them. It will pay for the medical expenses associated with their treatment, plus wage replacement while they recover from their injury.  Reach out to a construction accident lawyer.The workers’ compensation benefits are the only remedy you have against your employer in most cases. However, there may be other parties who were responsible for causing your injury. In that case, you may be able to recover more money to cover your damages in a personal injury claim.

Here is a look at what happens if a construction worker gets hurt.

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The Worker Obtains Medical Treatment for Their Injuries

Construction sites feature innumerable hazards for workers, including the risk of falling, being struck by equipment, fires and explosions, transportation accidents, electrocution, and more. Workers injured at the job site are encouraged to seek immediate medical treatment for their injury. If the injury is serious and the worker becomes incapacitated, this medical treatment often begins with an ambulance ride.

However, even if the worker does not believe he or she is seriously injured, it is still important to seek treatment for all injuries. This ensures the injury is not more serious than initially thought and provides medical documentation of the injury.

Can the Worker Pick Their Physician?

Each state has laws regarding whether a worker injured in a job-related accident can choose their physician. In Michigan, for example, the injured worker’s employer may pick the physician that treats the worker for the first 28 days of treatment. If treatment is ongoing after that point, the worker can choose where they obtain treatment. If the worker decides to change physicians, they must provide written notice to their employer and their workers’ compensation insurer.

You File a Claim

Workers are required to report their injury as soon as possible to the employer. The employer must then file a claim with the provider of their workers’ compensation policy. If the employer refuses to file the claim, the injured worker can make a claim within two years of the date of the injury.

Michigan has a seven-day waiting period before wage-loss benefits begin. If the injury lasts longer than 14 days—including holidays and weekends—the worker may recover the compensation they would have earned during the seven-day waiting period. Wage loss benefits typically are around 80 percent of the worker’s after-tax wages.

Can the Claim Be Denied?

Workers’ compensation is a form of no-fault insurance, making the benefits available to workers injured on the job regardless of who was at fault for the accident. However, it doesn’t cover every injury.

Workers’ compensation insurance can deny claims because:

• The employer believes that the injury sustained by the worker didn’t happen at work. Workers’ compensation is not available if you injured yourself at home, en route to work, or while taking an off-site break.
• The worker failed to notify their employer of the injury promptly.
• The worker sought treatment from an unapproved physician, or the treatment was deemed unnecessary by the insurance provider.
• The employer or insurer believes you deliberately caused the injury to collect workers’ compensation benefits.
• The injury occurred due to horseplay, or the worker was intoxicated at the time of the injury.

If the workers’ compensation provider denies the claim, they must inform the worker and provide information about how the employer can appeal that decision.

What Is the Personal Injury Claims Process?

Like workers’ compensation, personal injury claims generally begin as a claim against an insurance policy. You may file third-party claims against an at-fault party’s auto liability insurance or business liability policy.

The insurance provider can either choose to accept the claim, deny the claim, or offer to settle the claim out-of-court for less than its established value. However, the claim can also be filed as a personal injury lawsuit in civil court for a court to determine liability and order compensation.

Personal injury claims can allow you to recover compensation for things that are not covered by workers’ compensation, including pain and suffering and emotional distress.

How Long Do Workers’ Compensation Benefits Last?

In Michigan, workers’ compensation benefits last as long as the worker continues to be disabled by the injury. At age 65, benefits will be reduced to account for compensation available through Social Security or other retirement programs.

The benefits will continue to decrease up to 5 percent each year until the recipient reaches 75 years old. Permanent benefits can also decrease if you recover compensation through a personal injury claim, other employer-funded benefits, and benefits offered by different programs.

Returning to Work After the Injury

The goal for most injured workers, their employers, and workers’ compensation insurance providers—is for the employee to recover from their injury and return to work. As the worker’s physician continues to treat them and monitor their recovery, the employee will be subject to tests to determine whether they can do job-related tasks such as standing, sitting, or lifting.

Sometimes, a workers’ compensation insurer will order an independent medical evaluation, which is an evaluation performed by a physician of the insurance company’s choice who does not regularly treat the patient. Insurers do this to claim that they have greater clarity about the worker’s ability to perform job-related tasks, but these “independent” evaluators are rarely the best judge of your circumstances. Michigan law requires workers’ compensation claimants to submit to an independent medical examination if requested.

The Type of Disability Benefits Available Through Workers’ Comp

Depending on the type and duration of your injury, there are four types of disability benefits available through a workers’ compensation claim that seek to replace a portion of the wages that the worker cannot earn due to their injury.

1. Temporary partial disability benefits replace a portion of the wages lost for injured workers who can still perform some job-related tasks. The worker may be put on light duty or reduced work hours while they recover.
2. Temporary total disability benefits provide wage replacement for workers who temporarily cannot at all work due to their injury.
3. Permanent partial disability benefits are available for workers who can no longer perform the tasks of the job they had when the injury occurred, but who can perform the tasks of another, lower-paying job.
4. Permanent total disability benefits are available for workers whose injuries are believed to be permanent and substantially prevent them from performing the required tasks of any job. These benefits are typically available throughout the sufferer’s life, though they will decrease when the worker reaches the age of 65 and again at age 75.

The construction industry has the greatest number of fatal work-related injuries nationwide. Workers’ compensation also provides death benefits for the family members of workers killed on the job. Death benefits in Michigan would include wage replacement for 500 weeks following the death of the worker or longer if the deceased worker had dependent children.

How an Attorney Can Help with Your Claim

While workers’ compensation programs provide an easy way for workers to obtain the assistance they need to recover from a job-related accident, the process is often confusing, frustrating, and overwhelming. Fortunately, many personal injury lawyers are workers’ compensation lawyers and provide a wealth of experience, resources, and assistance for injured workers.

Some of the services an attorney can provide to injured construction workers include:

• Assistance in determining the best avenue for obtaining compensation. As noted, some construction site accidents result from third-party negligence and a personal injury claim can lead to additional compensation. In contrast, workers’ compensation covers any claim against your employer or co-worker. An attorney will investigate the accident to determine the source of liability.
• Assistance in filing a workers’ compensation claim. An employer most often files this type of claim. However, the employee can also file the claim if the employer has not done so. Individuals in this situation can obtain assistance with filing the claim.
• Legal representation during an independent medical examination. Insurers often order these examinations if they believe the worker is being less than truthful about the nature and severity of their injury. An attorney can explain the examination process to the worker and even attend the examination to ensure the worker’s fair treatment.
• Legal representation when appealing a workers’ compensation decision. Workers can appeal decisions about whether they qualify for benefits and how much they can receive in wage replacement. Suppose the worker feels the workers’ compensation insurer made a wrong decision about their coverage. In that case, an attorney can help the worker gather the information necessary to prove their right to compensation and can present the case at hearings that occur as part of the appellate process.
• Assistance in negotiating a single payment for certain injuries. In addition to wage replacement while the worker recovers from their injury, lump sum payments can pay for a permanent loss of body function, such as a traumatic amputation resulting in the loss of an arm or a chemical incident that causes a worker to lose their eyesight.
• Assistance expediting payments and fixing other administrative errors.

The experienced attorneys at Gruel Mills regularly handle personal injury claims that arise at construction sites. Although we do not handle the workers’ compensation process, we can refer you to another attorney we trust if you need representation. We are happy to review your situation and see if you may have a personal injury claim against any third party.

Affording an Experienced Construction Accident Attorney

Many injured workers are reluctant to seek the assistance of an experienced construction accident attorney because they don’t believe they can afford one. This reaction is reasonable, seeing how the individual cannot work due to their injury and is likely facing quickly mounting expenses.

However, most attorneys who practice this area of the law, including Gruel Mills, ensure that anyone who was injured and needs legal assistance can afford their assistance.

The contingent fee billing method allows the injured worker to hire an attorney without paying any hourly fees or retainer. If or when the claim is resolved in the injured workers’ favor, a percentage of the settlement or judgment is used to pay the attorney for their services. The personal injury attorney and worker will sign a contingent fee agreement when they start working together that will spell out how this will work.

Additionally, Gruel Mills offers free consultations, with no obligation to hire us. We can review the circumstances of your injury and help you understand if it is worth pursuing a third party negligence claim. Call us today to set up your free consultation.

After a construction accident, determining who is liable is complex and difficult. You need to figure out exactly what happened and whether someone was negligent in creating the hazard. Even with that information, the law is complicated on who can be held responsible for creating or allowing the danger to exist. Workers’ compensation may not be your only option.

Navigating these cases without legal help would be exceptionally challenging and likely ineffective. With an experienced construction accident attorney in your corner, you have the opportunity to seek fair compensation when you are injured due to the fault of another person on the job site.

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Reasons to Seek Legal Help After a Construction Accident

If you or a loved one sustains injuries in a construction accident, a lawyer can help you complete all the steps necessary to obtain full compensation.

Legal Knowledge

An experienced construction accident attorney knows all of the nuances of the law that are necessary to navigate your claim, and keeps up with changes in the law. Information you find on the internet may be outdated, from a different state with different laws, or just wrong. Navigating your claim without a lawyer is nearly impossible.

Legal knowledge plays a major role in determining liability, proving negligence, negotiating a fair settlement, and presenting your case in court.

Local Experience

Experienced attorneys know:

• How to build a strong case
• How to negotiate with local companies
• Where to find expert witnesses
• How local insurance companies and judges make their decisions
• How to use local laws in your favor

Such experience helps you to avoid mistakes and gives you the best chance of recovering damages.

Filing Documents

Each construction accident claim involves a significant amount of paperwork. Without legal assistance, it’s easy to miss deadlines, make errors, or even file the wrong documents. All of this can slow down your case or lead to lower compensation.

The attorney handles all the case-related paperwork. They know when and how to file claims, notify involved parties, request evidence, and much more. By taking care of these tasks, they are contributing to the success of your case.

Higher Compensation

You can usually count on a settlement if you have a strong case and plenty of evidence to support it. However, the size of that settlement depends on many factors, the main one being your ability to negotiate.

Attorneys know how to leverage evidence and the opposing side’s errors to conduct successful negotiations. Without legal assistance, an insurance company or the at-fault party’s attorneys can easily pressure you into making the wrong decision.

Peace of mind

If you’ve sustained injuries in a construction accident, you need time and space to recover from them. Dealing with legal issues during this recovery time can be frustrating and draining.

By delegating legal matters to a professional, you are gaining valuable time to deal with your injuries or to grieve the death of a loved one.

What a Construction Accident Attorney Can Do

If you are an employee who sustained injuries while working at a construction site, you can file a workers’ compensation claim. For that, you don’t usually need legal assistance.

However, workers’ compensation only covers reimbursement for medical expenses and lost wages. This insurance doesn’t cover pain and suffering or property damage.

Filing a workers’ comp claim is usually straightforward because you are entitled to benefits regardless of fault. Yet, there are cases where the employer or insurer denies the claim, or a third party is responsible for causing the injury. In these cases, or if you aren’t an employee, you need an attorney to help you file a personal injury claim or lawsuit. An experienced construction accident attorney can help you navigate the case and fight for the money you deserve. Your lawyer will:

Identify Liable Parties

In a construction accident, there are many parties who may be held liable:

• Construction companies – If you aren’t an employee of the general contractor or the subcontractor responsible for the hazard, you can file a claim with that contractor’s insurance company or sue the company directly. If you are an employee of the contractor, you can only file a workers’ compensation claim unless the employer committed an intentional tort.
• Property owners – The person who owns the property or has control over it has duties to the people who work there, including warning about or fixing certain dangerous conditions. The property owner or possessor may be liable for your injuries under premises liability laws if they don’t do that.
• Another construction worker – Another worker may be liable for the accident if they demonstrate negligence with equipment or materials and cause your injuries. If it is a coworker also employed by your employer, workers’ compensation is still the only remedy. If it is an employee of another contractor or subcontractor, you may seek compensation from the employee personally or through vicarious liability.
• Architects or engineers – Mistakes made by architects or engineers could compromise the building, structure, or land and cause an accident.
• Equipment manufacturers – If construction equipment malfunctions and injures an employee, the manufacturer can be responsible under product liability laws.

Identifying liable parties is key to filing a claim and recovering damages. The case becomes complex when more than one party is responsible for your injuries. An attorney makes sure that you file claims and lawsuits against the right people or companies to have an opportunity to obtain maximum compensation.

Investigate the Accident

Proving negligence, premises liability, or product liability requires the victim to conduct an investigation and collect relevant evidence. An attorney can visit the accident site, speak to eyewitnesses, and obtain other evidence on your behalf.

Common evidence in a construction accident case is:

• Photos and video of the accident site (If you didn’t take photos or videos on the day of the accident, an attorney can return and get it for you or obtain what was taken by others.)
• Documentation of your injuries
• Eyewitness testimonies
• Broken equipment that caused your injuries
• Medical bills, prescriptions, and doctors’ reports
• Expert witness testimony

An experienced attorney knows exactly what evidence you need to build a strong case and helps you obtain it.

Prove Negligence

If you want to recover damages in a personal injury case, you need to prove the at-fault party’s negligence.

To do that, you must show:

• The liable party’s legal duty of care
• Breach of the legal duty of care
• Injuries that occurred due to the breach
• Damages incurred due to the injuries

An attorney can help you prove the at-fault party’s negligence, which is a vital step to damage recovery.

In Michigan, construction accidents are the leading cause of work-related deaths. If your loved one died in a construction accident, an attorney could help you prove negligence and file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Negotiate With the Insurance Company

If you file an injury claim with the at-fault party’s insurance company, you need to know how to handle negotiations. Insurance companies are very reluctant to provide generous compensation. Adjusters work hard to minimize the value of your claim.

That’s why negotiations can be tedious, emotionally straining, and slow. If you are still recovering from serious injuries and need money urgently, it is easy to pressure you into accepting a low settlement. If you accept the first offer, however, you lose an opportunity to get a fair settlement that will compensate you for all of your losses and take care of your future needs.

If you hire an attorney, they can handle the entire negotiation process. Since legal professionals know exactly what you are entitled to, the insurance company will not be able to get away with lowball offers. Whether to accept a settlement offer is always your decision to make, but your attorney can help you understand if the offer is fair and your chances of getting a better verdict at trial.

Take Your Case to Court

While some construction accident cases settle before a lawsuit is filed, most of the time you must file a complaint with the court and conduct discovery (evidence gathering) before a settlement is reached. Most cases ultimately settle, but a few do proceed to trial.

Court proceedings are complex, time-consuming, and emotionally taxing. An attorney can handle all the legal filings and evidence gathering, and they will file documents on time, build a strong case, and present it to the judge and jury.

Michigan law doesn’t require the victim of a construction accident to hire an attorney. However, going to court without one can significantly hinder your chances of obtaining any compensation.

Provide Valuable Advice and Support

Construction accident cases are rarely quick and easy. You have to make numerous decisions to avoid an unfavorable outcome. An attorney can help you avoid common mistakes. Meanwhile, they can offer emotional support throughout the case.

People recovering from construction site injuries or grieving the loss of a loved one rarely have the emotional resources to handle legal action. A lawyer takes care of all case-related tasks and guides you through the difficult times.

In most cases, the at-fault party will have an attorney working on its side. If you don’t have a law license, trying to outdo a legal professional working against you is a losing battle. That makes hiring an attorney a very good idea.

Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations is the time you have to file a lawsuit after a construction accident. If you do not file suit within this time, the court will dismiss your case.

In Michigan, the statute of limitations for personal injury cases is three years from your injuries or when you discovered them. However, there are some exceptions that give you more time to file a claim, including:

• Mental disability – If the victim cannot understand their rights at the time of the accident due to a mental disability, they have a year after recovering to file a claim.
• Minor – If the victim is under 18 years old at the time of the accident, they have until their 10th birthday, 15th birthday, or 19th birthday to file a claim, depending on their age and type of injuries.
• Absence – If the at-fault party is out of state and you can’t serve them, the statute of limitations is paused.

It is best to hire a lawyer as soon as possible after an accident so that the attorney can make sure you file your claims on time and the evidence is preserved. However, you can still hire a personal injury lawyer if months or even years have passed since the accident. Gruel Mills offers free case reviews and can help you understand your rights and evaluate whether you should pursue a lawsuit.

Construction sites are inherently dangerous. Large equipment, raw materials, and projects in various stages of completion mean there is always something to watch out for. This means property owners and general contractors have a huge responsibility to keep construction workers safe.

Sadly, year after year, thousands of workers get injured or killed in construction site accidents. If you or someone you love suffered injuries in a construction accident, help is available. By hiring a construction accident attorney, you can obtain financial compensation for the injuries, losses, and difficulties you now face.

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Why You Should Hire A Construction Accident Attorney

If you suffered injuries in a construction accident, you have the right to receive financial compensation. This may be workers’ compensation, or it may be damages for negligence. Unfortunately, you cannot count on automatically receiving the money you deserve. You may need to fight for full (or even partial) payment, and it’s generally not a fight you can handle on your own.

Hiring a construction accident lawyer is the most reliable way to get the money owed to you. Here’s an explanation of what a lawyer can do.

A Lawyer Can Ensure You Get Your Full Workers’ Comp Benefits

As a construction worker, you are entitled to benefits for nearly any on-the-job injury. Your employer should have a workers’ compensation policy, which is a type of no-fault insurance.  In most cases, this policy will pay benefits to injured construction workers no matter who caused a construction accident, and even if the accident was partially or totally a worker’s fault.

Workers’ comp gives you the financial support you need to heal from your construction accident injuries and return to work. Standard workers’ compensation  benefits include:

• Medical benefits that pay for all necessary and reasonable medical treatments related to a construction accident injury, including costs of emergency care, hospitalization, doctor visits, surgeries, medication, and physical therapy.
• Wage replacement benefits that pay a portion of your regular wages for the time that your construction accident injury keeps you out of work.
• Permanent disability (PD) or permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits, which replace a portion of your income on a long-term basis or pay you a single lump sum if the construction accident injury you suffered leaves you partially or completely disabled in a way that interferes with your ability to work.
• Vocational/retraining benefits that pay for training in a new field if your construction accident injuries prevent you from returning to your previous job but you would be able to perform other jobs if you had training.
• Death benefits that pay for medical, funeral, burial expenses, and lost income, in the event a construction accident causes a worker’s death.

In a perfect world, workers’ compensation insurance companies would make it easy for injured workers to claim benefits and would quickly pay workers’ claims in full. Unfortunately, this is far from a perfect world. Workers’ comp insurance companies are infamous for making it more difficult than necessary to make a claim and for trying every tactic to reduce or flat-out deny a worker’s claim.

That’s where hiring a construction accident injury attorney comes in. A skilled lawyer can fight back against the workers’ compensation insurance company’s tactics and get you full benefits. A lawyer can prepare and pursue a claim on your behalf, appeal a claim denial, and even take the workers’ comp carrier to court if necessary to get your benefits.

A Lawyer Can Advocate For Your Interests

Construction accidents, especially large-scale ones, sometimes attract the attention of the media, law enforcement, and official investigators. The last thing you need while healing from an injury is to worry about what to say to those parties. But a lawyer can interact with them on your behalf and protect your rights if you need to give a statement.

Construction accidents can also send property owners, developers, contractors, and others with a commercial stake in a project scrambling to protect themselves from financial liability. They may run to a bankruptcy court or start pointing the finger at each other (or you). By hiring a construction accident lawyer, you can ensure that any steps those parties take do not unduly impact your ability to receive financial compensation for the harm you suffered.

A Lawyer Can Serve as Your Advisor

A primary goal of a great construction accident attorney is to ensure you make good, well-informed decisions that put you in the most favorable position possible when your case is over. In that sense, a lawyer serves as your trusted advisor—someone who has seen many others confront the same choices you now face and can give sensible, smart advice about how you can achieve your own goals and priorities.

Hiring a Construction Accident Attorney Costs You Nothing Now and Nothing Unless You Win

With all the benefits a construction accident attorney can provide, you might think hiring one would cost you an arm and a leg. But believe it or not, that’s not so. In fact, it costs you nothing upfront to hire an experienced construction accident lawyer at Gruel Mills to represent you.

Gruel Mills offers a free consultation to injured construction workers and their families. This consultation provides workers and their loved ones a risk-free, cost-free opportunity to learn about their rights and options for seeking compensation. Even if they decide not to hire a lawyer who consults with them, the consultation does not cost them a dime.

And that’s not all. Gruel Mills represents those injured in a construction accident on a contingent fee basis. That means we do not charge up-front or hourly fees for our services. Instead, we do our legal work in exchange for a percentage of any money we recover for you. In other words, we only get paid if you get paid.

We won’t take your case if we don’t think there is a good chance you will be successful. But in the rare case that you do not receive a settlement or a favorable judgment, you are not responsible for paying us for our work. At most, you may be responsible for limited costs, such as filing fees.

So, hiring a skilled construction accident attorney has many benefits and you can absolutely afford it. Call Gruel Mills today for your free consultation.

The Risks of Going Another Day Without a Construction Accident Attorney

If you’ve read this far, you know now that there’s no reason not to hire a construction accident attorney. But you still may wonder: Do I really need to hire one today?

We believe that for most people in your position, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” Here’s why.

You Have Deadlines to Meet

Your ability to receive workers’ compensation benefits or other compensation for your construction accident injuries likely depends on meeting a series of deadlines.

These may include:

• A deadline for notifying your employer of your injury;
• A deadline for seeking medical care;
• A deadline for submitting workers’ compensation claim paperwork;
• A deadline for appealing a workers’ compensation claim denial;
• A deadline for notifying a third party of a claim against them;
• A deadline for filing a third-party lawsuit or insurance claim.

Deadlines can vary widely. You may have just days or weeks after your construction accident to meet some of them, just months to meet others, and just a year or two to meet others. Missing any of these deadlines, however, could put your rights to payment for medical care, lost wages, and other damages in jeopardy and may cause you to lose your right to compensation altogether.

Therefore, when healing from a serious injury, you should not have to trouble yourself with worrying about a missed deadline. Hiring a construction accident attorney takes care of that issue for you. Among the many services they provide, attorneys take the steps necessary to meet the deadlines important to preserving their clients’ rights.

At-Fault Parties and Insurers May Take Advantage of You

This is a vulnerable time in your life. The parties at fault for your construction accident and the insurance companies that may have an obligation to pay for your injuries know this and, unfortunately, may try to take advantage of your situation for their benefit.

Insurance companies, in particular, have a reputation for doing everything they can to limit their financial liability for an accident. They sometimes use high-pressure tactics, like calling you and insisting that you must give them a recorded interview or dangling a settlement offer that will expire soon if you do not accept it.

Hiring a lawyer protects you from these shenanigans. An attorney can serve as your representative in all dealings with at-fault parties, their lawyers, and their insurance companies. This ensures that you will not mistakenly give up your rights or cave to undue pressure from a defense lawyer or an insurance adjuster.

Time Takes a Toll on Your Case

To get you the most money and benefits possible, a lawyer must present evidence and legal arguments in your favor. The sooner an attorney can get started preparing your case, the better.

As time passes, it can become increasingly difficult to locate and obtain evidence and convince an insurance company, defense lawyer, judge, or jury that you have a winning case. For example, witnesses tend to have the clearest memories in the days after a construction accident. As time passes, they forget potentially important details, weakening their testimony. Similarly, it’s far easier to collect video and physical evidence of how a construction accident happened in the moments and days afterward than to try to reconstruct that evidence months or years later.

Hiring a lawyer as soon as possible limits the potential harm that the passage of time can have on your rights. Once hired, a lawyer can act quickly to locate evidence, interview witnesses, and put at-fault parties and insurers on notice that you intend to pursue your claim aggressively.

Call an Experienced Construction Accident Attorney Today

Seasoned construction accident injury lawyers understand the challenges you face in the aftermath of getting hurt on a job site. They want to help. But you have to take the first step by reaching out.

So do not wait any longer. If you were injured in a construction site accident, you have potentially valuable rights to compensation for your injuries. Contact an experienced personal injury lawyer at Gruel Mills today for a free consultation to learn more about your rights.