Spanish Speaking Worker’s Compensation Lawyer In Orange County

If you are hurt at work but cannot clearly communicate with anyone, you find yourself dealing with trauma and stress at levels you may have never experienced before. The accident itself can be traumatic. The cost of medical care and the financial concerns of missing work only add to the stress levels you might be experiencing. When you believe you require legal representation to help you deal with your accident and the unknowns surrounding it, but do not know where to find someone who can speak your native language and the language of the law, too, please call us at the Kenmore Law Group. We offer legal services provided by fluent Spanish speaking lawyers and staff members. The Kenmore Law Group believes that everyone in the State of California is deserving of legal representation, regardless of what language they speak or where they come from. If you need a Spanish speaking worker’s compensation lawyer in Orange County, Irvine, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Anaheim, or Newport Beach, please call us at the Kenmore Law Group. We have years of experience and want to share some details with you about the worker’s compensation claim process.

Your job, no matter what industry it is in, or what the role might be, has something in common with every other job and company in California. If you get injured at work, your employer is paying for worker’s compensation insurance coverage. It is the law for any employer. If you have questions that need to be answered or need legal representation, please call us at the Kenmore Law Group. We will get a Spanish speaking worker’s compensation lawyer in Orange County, Irvine, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Anaheim, or Newport beach to help you. You can reach us at any time of day or night. We will provide you with someone from our experienced legal team who speaks Spanish fluently and is ready to answer the questions you have about your accident. Our goal is to give you access to legal information as soon as you need it. We will get you scheduled for a free initial consultation with the legal team to review your case in person, in Spanish, and with the goal of helping you.

The focus of that first meeting will be to gather all of the information about the incident. It should include how it happened and cover everything that led up to the accident, the specifics of the injury, the severity, and any potential for disability, as well as any other details you think we should know about the accident and aftermath. After that information gets documented, we can move our focus to explaining how the worker’s compensation program benefits are going to provide the coverage to address medical bills and lost wages. Our Spanish speaking team at Kenmore Law Group is going to review all of the benefits that you can claim. One significant detail that we discuss with you is the time limit you have to get a claim filed with worker’s compensation in the State of California. It is one of the few limiting factors in collecting benefits.

What Is Time Limit To File A Worker’s Compensation Claim In California?
For a standard work-related injury, the time limit to file a claim is 30 calendar days. The timer begins on the date of the accident. The 30 day time limit is strictly enforced and only has a few exceptions to it. One of those exceptions is any injuries that are caused by cumulative trauma. That time limit is different.

What Is Cumulative Trauma?
Cumulative trauma is a diagnosis of the cause of an injury. It is used when talking about workplace injuries that happen because of repetitive activities that take place over time. Often, the activity isn’t actually a trauma event itself. The injury occurs over time because the activity is doing some kind of damage or causing some strain on a part of the body. Carpal tunnel is an example of this kind of injury. A back strain or hearing loss are other examples of this kind of injury. The most significant difference in this kind of injury is the time limit to file a worker’s comp claim for treatment. It is one year, and it begins on the date of the first day of work you missed due to the pain of the injury. It must be diagnosed by a medical professional to get the claim approved and get coverage.

What Are The Most Common Injuries And Workplace Hazards?
Our jobs will usually have some known and expected hazards and injuries. These are typically based on what the employee gets exposed to on a daily basis, as well as the nature of the job itself. Your job will also have an influence on the frequency of that exposure, and the risks of the injury and its severity are going to be. Some jobs are riskier than others. The Kenmore Law Group has decades of experience in handling clients with almost every type of injury and hazard that is shared across all of our Spanish speaking worker’s compensation lawyers in Orange County. The different injuries we see from our clients usually begin with slip and fall types, and go into some uncommon injuries like blunt force trauma and penetrating wounds, falls from extreme height, and sometimes even amputation from a piece of saw or other cutting tool. What is also common when dealing with workplace injuries and hazards is that the uncommon happens too. The common injuries and hazards the staff at the Kenmore Law Group sees are:

• Sprains cause damage to the joints or a complete joint dislocation due to a sudden, unexpected shift away from a failing scaffold or a floor hazard, like shifting material or a damaged surface
• Broken bones caused by a fall on wet or slippery floors with poor drainage and moisture issues
• Neck, back, or spinal cord injuries from an automobile accident when delivering company products to a job site location
• Head injuries, such as a severe concussion or a skull fracture from material falling on you in a warehouse or from a forklift carrying boxes

Other common hazards that have little to do with your job will pop up, too. The opportunity for random risks and hazards does exist because they are common regardless of the job, industry, or location.  Some examples of these are:

• Burns or electrical shock from appliances in the office, such as an oven in the kitchen
• Cleaning liquids that are used in an office restroom or an industrial area with poor ventilation
• Environmental issues like fire or flooding that might occur due to storms and lightning

If you have a work-related injury and are experiencing language issues when interacting with worker’s compensation or your employer, please do not wait to speak with the legal staff at Kenmore Law Group. We will get a Spanish speaking worker’s compensation lawyer involved to help you as soon as possible.

What Injuries Are Covered By Worker’s Compensation In California?
There is no list of injury types or accidents that are covered by worker’s compensation if they happened at work and doing your job. If the circumstances of the event are ordinary, it is safe to expect that they will be covered. If the circumstances of the accident are out of the ordinary, the results of an investigation will dictate the coverage provided. An example of this might be that the injury happened to an employee who was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Another example might be that the accident happened at a work function, like the annual BBQ and softball game. The worker’s compensation program may not cover the incident and the injuries in situations like these. If you are working and there are no extenuating circumstances that led to, contributed to, or caused the injury, you can expect the worker’s compensation insurance program in California to cover the accident and the costs of your medical treatment.

What Benefits Are Provided By The Worker’s Compensation Insurance Program?
Every employee who is covered by the State of California worker’s compensation insurance is eligible to receive the benefits that listed below. They include, but are not limited to:

• A total of 1 million dollars per incident for medical care costs covering the hospital and doctor’s bills, prescription medications, any physical therapy and rehabilitation, as well as the rental or purchase costs of devices like crutches, a cane, a walker, or a wheelchair
• If you are expected to have some level of disability as a result of your accident, the program will provide some temporary long-term disability payments to you
• If you are unable to return to work until fully healed from your injuries, you do qualify for up to 66% of your regular income
• If your injury does not allow you to return to work doing your former job, you can qualify for vocational training, training you for a new career and role, once you are cleared by your doctor to return to work

Can You File A Personal Injury Lawsuit Against An Employer After Being Injured?
Yes, you can actually file a personal injury lawsuit against your employer after you have been hurt at work. There are some very specific conditions and restrictions. Worker’s compensation insurance is what is considered to be an exclusive remedy for workplace injuries. What this means is that there is no requirement to prove liability or fault before collecting benefits. If your employer contributed to or caused the hazard that led to your injuries, they may be guilty of what is called gross negligence. If they are, they can be sued for it. It needs to be proven to get damages awarded, and you are limited to what the damages are. It can only be money you have not received or recovered by worker’s compensation insurance. Items like the remaining 34% of your income, or the replacement cost due to loss of personal property in the accident, are just two examples. This can be reviewed with your Kenmore Law Group Spanish speaking worker’s compensation lawyer as early as your first meeting. The damages that can be sought are limited.

Upfront Costs For Our Clients
When you have a need to hire a Spanish speaking worker’s compensation lawyer in Orange County, Irvine, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Anaheim, or Newport Beach, the Kenmore Law Group does not ask you for money upfront for a deposit before we take you on as a client. If we do not win your case, you will not be billed for our services. Please give the Kenmore Law Group a call today. We want to help you with your worker’s compensation claim and get you back to work and financially whole.