When you need a Pittsburgh workers' comp lawyer
If your claim is accepted and your checks arrive on time, you may not need a lawyer at first. But the moment the insurer denies your claim, stops your wage checks, sends you to its own doctor, disputes that the injury is work-related, or pushes a settlement at you, a Pittsburgh workers' comp lawyer changes the balance of power. The fee is capped at 20% and only comes out of what they win for you.
Pennsylvania's system has strict, unforgiving deadlines and a process run through the state Bureau of Workers' Compensation. A lawyer who handles these claims before the Pittsburgh workers' comp judges knows how to keep your benefits flowing and how to value a settlement before you sign one.
Talk to a Pittsburgh workers' comp lawyer if any of the following describes your situation.
- Your claim was denied or your wage-loss checks suddenly stopped.
- The insurer says your injury is not work-related or is only partly covered.
- You were sent to the company doctor and disagree with being released to work.
- You received a Notice of Ability to Return to Work or a modified-job offer.
- The insurer offered you a lump-sum Compromise and Release settlement.
- You have a permanent impairment or cannot go back to your old job.
- Your employer is pressuring you not to file or is treating you differently after you reported.
- You are unsure whether you reported the injury in time.
- A third party (not your employer) may have caused your injury.
- You simply want someone to check that the insurer is paying you the right amount.
How a Pittsburgh workers' comp case actually moves
Step 1: report the injury to your employer in writing, ideally within 21 days and never later than 120 days. Step 2: get medical care; for the first 90 days you may have to treat with a provider from your employer's posted panel if the list is valid. Step 3: the insurer accepts or denies the claim. Step 4: if it is denied or your checks stop, your lawyer files a claim petition or penalty petition with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. Step 5: hearings before a Pittsburgh workers' compensation judge, with depositions of the doctors. Step 6: a decision, a negotiated Compromise and Release settlement, or an appeal to the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board. Litigated cases often take several months to over a year, while many resolve by settlement once the medical picture is clear.
What this typically costs in Pittsburgh
WCJ-approved
Fee must be approved
Pennsylvania caps a workers' compensation attorney's fee at 20% of the benefits or settlement the lawyer obtains, and a workers' compensation judge must approve the fee. You pay nothing up front, and the fee comes out of your recovery, not your pocket. Case costs such as medical records and the cost of deposing doctors are usually advanced by the firm. Because the fee is capped and contingent, hiring a lawyer rarely reduces your net recovery once they protect benefits the insurer was trying to cut. Always confirm the 20% figure and how costs are handled, in writing.
What is specific about Pennsylvania workers' comp
- Report within 21 days. Tell your employer about a work injury as soon as possible. Reporting within 21 days protects your full benefits from the date of injury, and you have at most 120 days to give notice or you can lose the claim entirely.
- 20% fee cap. Pennsylvania caps the attorney's fee at 20% of what is recovered, and a workers' compensation judge must approve it. That is lower than the contingency fee in most injury cases.
- Employer's panel doctors. If your employer posted a valid list of providers, you may have to treat within that panel for the first 90 days. After 90 days you can generally switch to your own doctor.
- Compromise and Release. Most cases that settle do so through a Compromise and Release, a lump-sum agreement approved by a judge that usually closes out future wage and sometimes medical benefits. Have a lawyer value it before you sign, because it is hard to undo.
- Bureau and the Pittsburgh judges. Claims run through the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers' Compensation, and Pittsburgh-area disputes are heard by local workers' compensation judges, with appeals going to the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board.