Tipton Workers Compensation Attorneys

Workers' compensation in Iowa is designed to help injured employees recover medical care and a portion of their lost income, but the system is far more complicated than most Tipton workers expect. Some injuries, like back pain that develops gradually, are notoriously difficult to prove. Decisions about whether to stay with your employer or accept a new job while still treating can carry serious legal consequences. And many injured workers are surprised to learn that pain and suffering, a type of compensation common in other personal injury cases, is generally not available through workers' compensation at all.

The workers' compensation attorneys at Walker, Billingsley & Bair serve injured Iowans statewide and are committed to helping Tipton workers understand exactly what they are entitled to and how to protect those rights. This article covers three important topics: why pain and suffering generally is not available in an Iowa workers' compensation claim and what compensation is available instead, what happens to your claim if you switch jobs while still treating for a work injury, and why back injuries are among the most difficult conditions to prove happened at work.

Do You Get Pain and Suffering in Iowa Workers' Compensation?

The general answer to this question is no. Workers injured on the job often require treatment for physical pain, which may include prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, surgery, physical therapy, and rehabilitation. That treatment is covered, but the kind of pain and suffering damages available in a typical personal injury lawsuit are not part of the Iowa workers' compensation system.

What Iowa Workers' Compensation Actually Provides

The Iowa workers' compensation system generally provides three types of benefits. The first is medical care and treatment, including mileage reimbursement to medical providers selected by your employer or their insurance company. The second is a weekly check covering the time period during which the doctor your employer sends you to says you cannot work at all, or during which you return to work but earn less money, continuing until you reach maximum medical improvement (MMI). The third is compensation in the form of money paid weekly or in a lump sum if you sustain a permanent work injury.

There are many different ways that this third category of compensation is determined, depending largely on the type of injury involved. Injuries to the shoulder, back, neck, hip, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and mental injuries such as depression and anxiety are generally considered unscheduled, or industrial disability, work injuries. Injuries to the hand, arm, leg, foot, eye, ears in the form of hearing loss, fingers, and toes are considered scheduled member injuries and are treated very differently under Iowa law. There are several exceptions to these general categories, including the Second Injury Fund and situations where a worker sustains three scheduled member injuries at the same time.

Other Avenues Where Pain and Suffering May Be Available

As you can see, there is no direct compensation for pain and suffering in a standard Iowa workers' compensation claim. However, depending on how you were injured, other claims may be available that do allow for pain and suffering damages. For example, if you were working at the time you were involved in a car accident, you may be able to recover pain and suffering against the other driver through a separate third-party claim. There is also a legal theory called gross negligence against a co-employee, which carries a high standard of proof but may provide additional compensation for pain and suffering in limited circumstances.

Your Right to Medical Treatment for Pain

Iowa Workers' Compensation Law Section 85.27 requires that the employer, or the employer's insurer, pay for all reasonable and necessary medical care incurred to treat the injury. If pain treatment is considered a reasonable medical expense in a medical professional's opinion, then your employer's workers' compensation insurance is legally required to pay for it. Treatment for pain should continue for as long as a medical professional recommends it.

In Iowa, your employer generally has the right to choose your treating doctor. Workers' compensation must pay for pain treatment if that doctor believes you need it. However, the doctor your employer selects may instead conclude that you do not need pain treatment. If this happens and you believe you genuinely require it, you have the right to request alternative care. If that request is not granted, you can apply to the Iowa Workers' Compensation Commissioner. If you are physically suffering as a result of a workplace injury and have been denied appropriate pain treatment, you have the right to advocate for yourself, and an experienced attorney can help you do so effectively.

What Happens to Your Workers' Comp Case If You Switch Jobs?

Your Iowa workers' compensation case will remain open even if you decide to switch jobs while you are still treating for your injury. However, doing so can create significant problems, because if you experience additional issues at your new job, the workers' compensation insurance company can blame the new job for those problems and deny further medical care and treatment related to the original injury. This can leave a Tipton worker in the difficult position of potentially having to file an entirely new claim against the new employer. While switching jobs during an open workers' comp case is legally possible, it may not be the wisest decision without first speaking to an attorney.

More than 20 changes were made to Iowa's workers' compensation laws in 2017, and many of them are unfavorable to injured workers, including several that specifically apply to switching jobs during an open claim.

Medical Care and Treatment

Technically, Iowa law provides lifetime medical care and treatment for work injuries, which sounds significant but is not always as protective as it appears. All the insurance company needs to do to deny further treatment is obtain an opinion letter from another doctor, who does not even need to examine or meet you, stating that your current problems are not caused by the original work injury. This is exactly the kind of argument an insurer is likely to make if you change jobs while still treating for your injury. There are situations where changing jobs may make sense, but it is often best to wait until you have reached MMI and have been given permanent work restrictions before doing so.

Industrial Disability Analysis

There is often a substantial difference in compensation between scheduled member injuries, such as those to the hands, feet, arms, legs, and eyes, and industrial injuries, such as those to the back, neck, brain, CRPS, or mental injuries following a physical injury. One of the major changes made in 2017 provided that regardless of injury type, if an injured worker continues working for the same employer at the same or greater pay, they are limited to the functional impairment rating provided by the AMA Guides.

These laws continue to be interpreted by the Iowa Workers' Compensation Commissioner and Iowa courts. A favorable decision for injured workers, Martinez v. Pavlich, established that when an injured worker's employment ends, whether voluntarily or not, with the employer where they were injured, and the injury is classified as a body as a whole injury, the worker is entitled to an industrial disability analysis under the amended statute. This means that if a Tipton worker voluntarily leaves the job where they were hurt, their case could arguably proceed under an industrial disability analysis. However, this is not always the best approach, because in some limited situations, industrial disability could actually be calculated lower than a functional impairment rating. If you are planning to voluntarily leave the job where you were injured, speaking with a qualified Iowa workers' compensation attorney before doing so is strongly recommended.

Potential for a Higher Settlement

If you sustained a serious work injury and end up with permanent work restrictions, your employer may bring you back to work but would genuinely prefer that you find another job. If you quit under that scenario, you will likely receive less compensation than if you negotiate a settlement that includes a global release and mutual separation from employment. Employers and their workers' compensation insurers may be willing to pay significantly more if you agree to leave your job as part of a structured settlement. This will almost always require closing your file entirely, including future medical benefits and your right to reopen the case later, so this path should be pursued with the help of an attorney.

The Risk of Quitting Your Job

One of the worst things a Tipton worker can do during an open workers' compensation claim is quit their job. If you are receiving temporary total disability (TTD) benefits while off work, those benefits will likely end if you quit. Filing for unemployment afterward becomes difficult as well, since you must be ready, willing, and able to work to qualify, and you voluntarily left your position. Even when unemployment benefits are available, Iowa law has reduced the number of weeks workers can receive them and requires workers to accept lower-paying jobs sooner or risk losing those benefits altogether.

Retirement and Its Impact on Your Claim

Another trap built into the 2017 law changes involves retirement. If you are an older worker considering retirement and you choose to retire while your workers' compensation case is pending, you may unknowingly forfeit thousands of dollars. Current law allows your employer and their insurer to use your retirement against you as a primary factor in determining how much industrial disability compensation you should receive. Do not let an employer, supervisor, or even a treating physician push you toward retirement while your claim remains open, and be careful about sharing any retirement plans with anyone, as those statements can later be used to reduce your compensation.

Why Back Injuries Are So Difficult to Prove in Iowa Workers' Compensation Claims

One of the most difficult injuries to prove as work-related in Iowa is a back injury. There are several reasons for this difficulty, including establishing that the injury occurred while on the clock rather than off duty, and proving that the condition was not pre-existing.

Pinpointing the Exact Location of Back Pain

Even with the medical technology available today, isolating the precise location of back pain remains one of the most difficult tasks in medicine. This difficulty in identifying the exact source of the pain makes it equally difficult to determine what specifically caused it. Back pain claims are not typically denied because of the degree of pain reported. They are denied because it is difficult to prove the damage occurred at work when the injury itself cannot be clearly defined. This is true of any indefinite pain that occurs in a workplace setting in Iowa, but back injuries are by far the most common condition to present this particular challenge.

The Many Potential Causes of Back Pain

The other major obstacle in proving a back injury occurred at work is that common back problems can be caused by a wide range of physical activities and even habitual, everyday motions. Most employers are reluctant to accept that a back injury is work-related and often prefer to attribute it to pre-existing conditions, injuries sustained outside of work, or an unrelated medical condition entirely.

Ultimately, without a direct, documented incident that occurred on the job and irrefutably caused severe damage to the back, it is often very difficult to prove the injury resulted from work. The hardest back injuries to prove are the gradual ones that develop over years and become debilitating slowly, often because the injury was never formally reported. In these cases, a Tipton worker may have continued performing their job in spite of pain for weeks, months, or even years until it became unbearable.

Why Reporting Every Injury Matters

This is precisely why it is so important to report every single injury that occurs at work in Iowa, no matter how minor it may seem at the time. Doing so creates a reference point that can later be used to pinpoint exactly when a particular injury occurred. A worker never knows when something that feels small today could develop into a much larger issue affecting their future health and ability to work. Reporting injuries promptly, even seemingly minor ones, is one of the most effective steps a Tipton worker can take to protect a future claim.

Why Tipton Workers Should Speak With an Attorney Before Making These Decisions

Whether you are trying to understand what compensation is actually available to you, considering whether to switch jobs while still treating for an injury, or struggling to prove that a back injury happened at work, these are not decisions to navigate alone. Iowa's workers' compensation laws are filled with traps for unrepresented workers, particularly following the significant changes made in 2017. An experienced attorney can help you understand the right and wrong ways to handle these situations before a mistake costs you compensation you are rightfully owed.

Getting Legal Assistance In Tipton

Navigating the complexities of Iowa workers' compensation laws can be daunting, especially during the recovery process from a workplace injury. Seeking guidance from a seasoned Tipton Workers' Comp attorney is invaluable in ensuring your rights are protected and maximizing your chances of a favorable outcome.

Legal professionals play a pivotal role in gathering evidence, preparing documentation, and advocating for your interests throughout the claims process. Don't risk missing out on the compensation you deserve – enlist the support of a qualified attorney to navigate the complexities with confidence.

The Iowa Workers' Compensation attorney team at Walker, Billingsley & Bair know the importance of protecting your work injury claim from the get-go. That's why we provide this FREE book; Iowa Workers' Compensation - An Insider's Guide to Work Injuries: 7 Deadly Mistakes To Avoid If You Are Hurt At Work. To learn more about what our legal team will do to help you protect your Iowa work injury claim, contact Walker, Billingsley & Bair to schedule a no-cost consultation - 641-792-3595.

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