Check Your Weekly Work Comp Rate!

This week, I had a work comp carrier admit, after several communications from me, that it was underpaying my client $170.22 per week! I regularly see underpayments by carriers in my practice, but this was the largest I’ve seen in a while. If you have a 10% impairment to your back, in Iowa, that’s a difference of $8,511.00. Even if you pay attorney fees on that amount, wouldn’t you want the extra $5,600.00 in YOUR pocket, rather than kept, illegally, by the insurance company?
One of the first things a good work comp lawyer will do is check your rate. For most hourly workers, this means getting at least 13 weeks of “customary” wages for you prior to the date of your injury. Many times, carriers just use the last 13 weeks, but, if you missed a day or two of work, then the value of those weeks is artificially low and the law says that we are to replace those weeks with other weeks which are “customary”. Do yourself a favor and ask the adjuster for your case for a copy of the wage information used to calculate your Average Weekly Wage and Rate and if it looks like they used some low weeks, odds are pretty good you are owed some money. If you aren’t sure what to look for, or how to calculate the correct values, call me. I’m more than happy to help try to find you some extra money!