Offshore Injury Lawyers Can Tell You When To Go Back To Work
It is not unusual that a Jones Act seaman, longshoreman, dock worker, or other maritime employee will sustain an injury on the job and their employer will demand that the injured party come back before it is safe or even legal. Sometimes, this employer may even command an injured person to go back offshore to a moving boat or active oil rig.
Coming back to the job too quickly will be a terrible idea both for your case and for yourself. When you have sustained injury on the job, your employer will have many people closely surveying your behavior. You will be under constant surveillance at work and your performance will be consistently evaluated. You'll be surprised that colleagues may come to court and testify that you performed your old job with ease, thus demonstrating that your injury was not that serious or even nonexistent.
Many medical professionals such as surgeons, chiropractors, pain management specialists and others that take you as a patient may mistakenly advise you that you can go back to work before you are fully ready. While the temptation to earn more money may seem too good to resist, do not do anything until your lawyer advises you that it is kosher.
Of the compensation that you are able to request in the context of a maritime personal injury, one of the most significant will be your loss of wages and/or earning capacity. Many individuals working in the industry make excellent wages; when they are injured, the loss of heavy duty labor capacity can spell big trouble for their finances. When you return to the workplace, even if the duties are temporary, you are assisting the company's main point in their case against you. Your adjuster or employer will look at your decision to return as proof that you can continue to work, same as before.
A good rule of thumb is that skilled and experienced offshore injury lawyers will not hesitate to tell any injured worker that they should not return to work unless they truly believe that they could be hired by another company in their current physical condition. If the employer offers you a deal like sheltered employment or light work is specially created for injured workers in order to accommodate their limitations, you want to think carefully about whether in your current condition, a job at another place is possible. If you cannot, then returning to the workplace is a bad idea.
Coming back to the job too quickly will be a terrible idea both for your case and for yourself. When you have sustained injury on the job, your employer will have many people closely surveying your behavior. You will be under constant surveillance at work and your performance will be consistently evaluated. You'll be surprised that colleagues may come to court and testify that you performed your old job with ease, thus demonstrating that your injury was not that serious or even nonexistent.
Many medical professionals such as surgeons, chiropractors, pain management specialists and others that take you as a patient may mistakenly advise you that you can go back to work before you are fully ready. While the temptation to earn more money may seem too good to resist, do not do anything until your lawyer advises you that it is kosher.
Of the compensation that you are able to request in the context of a maritime personal injury, one of the most significant will be your loss of wages and/or earning capacity. Many individuals working in the industry make excellent wages; when they are injured, the loss of heavy duty labor capacity can spell big trouble for their finances. When you return to the workplace, even if the duties are temporary, you are assisting the company's main point in their case against you. Your adjuster or employer will look at your decision to return as proof that you can continue to work, same as before.
A good rule of thumb is that skilled and experienced offshore injury lawyers will not hesitate to tell any injured worker that they should not return to work unless they truly believe that they could be hired by another company in their current physical condition. If the employer offers you a deal like sheltered employment or light work is specially created for injured workers in order to accommodate their limitations, you want to think carefully about whether in your current condition, a job at another place is possible. If you cannot, then returning to the workplace is a bad idea.
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