Another way to upgrade your defense counsel is to get references and ask questions about workers compensation experience. Obtain the names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers of three current clients in the workers compensation arena. CHECK THOSE OUT. Set aside enough time to do this.
Ask these questions:
1- Ask the former or current clients about the lawyer’s strengths and weaknesses?
2- Why do they use this particular firm?
To trim the time that such a laborious process might take, in lieu of a phone call or interview you might design a brief one-page questionnaire that you can mail or send as an email attachment. This is a time-efficient way of getting feedback from other clients. If the latter don’t respond, you are in the quandary of wondering whether they didn’t have anything positive to say or whether they are just too busy.
To be bold, ask the lawyer for names of former clients. Phone them and ask why they no longer use that firm or attorney. Otherwise, a firm can hand-pick three clients who are only going to give you rave — not balanced — reviews.
Kevin Quinley CPCU, AIC, ARM is a claims consultant, trainer, speaker and expert witness. He is the author of ten books on various aspects of claims management. He is a contributing author to the IIA textbook for the Associate in Claims courses, Principles of Workers Compensation Claims (Second Edition) 1998. You can reach Kevin at kquinley@cox.net, by phoning (703) 239-1694 or via his website, www.kevinquinley.com
Try the WC Cost Calculator to show the REAL COST of work comp.
Look at WC 101 for the basics about workers comp.
Workers’ Comp Kit® is a web-based online Assessment, Benchmarking and Cost Containment system for employers. It provides all the materials needed to reduce your costs significantly in 85% less time than if you designed a program from scratch.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel before implementing any cost containment programs.
©2008 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@WorkersCompKit.com
Know this question!
Our last discussion intentionally omitted a key question to pose to any firm or attorney you are considering for handling your contested workers compensation cases because we wanted to handle it separately due to it’s importance.
That question: What is your success ratio in contested workers compensation cases? There is no second place in workers compensation litigation. You want to win! Your attorney should want to win too! His or her skills, plus the claim file, should ideally position the employer or carrier to attain victory.
Whether the issue is one of “arising out of employment,” no causal relationship, employee horseplay, malingering or a bogus injury occurring away from work, the employer and carrier wants to win. Moral victories do not count.
Therefore ask: What is the attorney’s win/loss ratio? Does she keep track? How does the attorney define “win”? In workers compensation, a “win” can be anything from a defeated compensation claim to get 40% permanent partial disability instead of permanent total. Begin the counsel selection process with the end in mind. In contested workers (workersxzcompxzkit) compensation cases, the end is a claim that is either (rightfully) defeated or minimized. Management guru and author Tom Peters says, “That which gets measured gets done.” Does defense counsel keep track of overall workers compensation wins and losses? If so, that’s a good sign – and an even better sign if the win percentage is high!!
Kevin Quinley CPCU, AIC, ARM is a claims consultant, trainer, speaker and expert witness. He is the author of ten books on various aspects of claims management. He is a contributing author to the IIA textbook for the Associate in Claims courses, Principles of Workers Compensation Claims (Second Edition) 1998. You can reach Kevin at kquinley@cox.net, by phoning (703) 239-1694 or via his website, www.kevinquinley.com
WC Calculator: www.ReduceYourWorkersComp.com/calculator.php
TD Calculator: www.ReduceYourWorkersComp.com/transitional-duty-cost-calculator.php
WC 101: www.ReduceYourWorkersComp.com/workers_comp.php
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel before implementing any cost containment programs.
©2008 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@WorkersCompKit.com
The insurance market is going to become more costly according to recent articles by Business Insurance and Advisen. Start the New Year right, and do 4 simple things to reduce your workers’ comp costs:
1- Count your OOW (out of work) Employees. Know how many employees that are out of work TODAY, and make your goal to reduce that number by 30% within 6 months. At any given time, you should know the “OOW count” and be ready to tell your CEO, CFO and other management that figure.
2- Know the Cost of the OOW Count. If you have 25 employees out of work, and the total incurred cost of those claims are $67,000, your company has to sell $1,340,000 if your profit margin is 5% to replace the cost of those claims on the bottom line. Every member of management will understand THAT figure. You can calculate your own Cost of Workers’ Comp at Workers Comp Kit Calculator.
3- Use a Work Ability Form when the employee takes the form to the doctor ON THE FIRST VISIT. Make sure your form has check boxes to indicate physical restrictions at work and at home.
4- Have every employee sign an Employee Acknowledgment Form stating that they have been informed of their responsibilities in your workers’ comp program. This form should be included in your new hire packets, as well as, distributed to all existing employees.
There are many ways to reduce workers comp costs. You can do it yourself or get hands on help from Amaxx. If your company is just beginning, the best way to begin is to find out your National Workers Compensation Score (NWCS)â„¢. Find out more.
Look at WC 101 for the basics about workers comp.
Workers’ Comp Kit® is a web-based online Assessment, Benchmarking and Cost Containment system for employers. It provides all the materials needed to reduce your costs significantly in 85% less time than if you designed a program from scratch.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel before implementing any cost containment programs.
©2008 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@WorkersCompKit.com
This week, we have a special series on how to tame workers compensation costs by upgrading the caliber of legal counsel that you use on contested cases. Our featured blogger is Kevin Quinley a leading authority on claims management, product liability and litigation management.
Tremendous expenses are involved, both in terms of legal fees incurred and the indemnity payouts from unsuccessful claim defenses. By contrast, wise choices here stem “leakage” in paying groundless workers’ compensation claims. Here is the first of seven tips for upgrading your defense counsel.
Tip #1
Check for Experience in Workers Compensation Defense
Classic rock fans may recall a Jimi Hendrix album from the sixties, “Are You Experienced?” Forty years later, risk professional can pose the same question – minus the psychedelics – to candidate workers compensation defense counsel. An attorney who superbly litigates car crashes or slip-and-fall defense is not necessarily an adept workers compensation lawyer. Seek someone whose caseload is predominantly, if not exclusively workers compensation defense. The best questions will yield the optimum answers that can help you assess the fit between your needs and the firm’s capabilities.
Some good warm-up questions are:
- What percentage of their caseload is workers compensation defense?
- Do they handle plaintiff cases? (Carriers have differing philosophies about attorneys working “both sides of the fence.” Some want attorneys to be “ideologically pure,” with no plaintiff work. Others feel it helps the effectiveness of their defense counsel to have experience on the plaintiff side.)
- What is their hourly billing rate for workers compensation cases?
- Would you consider any billing approaches other than time-and-expense?
There is one more key question which we will spotlight in our next post. In the meantime, any lawyer specializing in workers compensation defense should be able to answer questions like these in their sleep. If you hear hesitation, hemming or hawing, that is a bad sign. Workers compensation clients must get beyond the glossy marketing brochures and websites to really drill down to plumb the depth of a firm’s or attorney’s workers compensation expertise.
Provided by: Kevin Quinley CPCU, AIC, ARM is a claims consultant, trainer, speaker and expert witness. He is the author of ten books on various aspects of claims management. He is a contributing author to the IIA textbook for the Associate in Claims courses, Principles of Workers Compensation Claims (Second Edition) 1998. You can reach Kevin at kquinley@cox.net, by phoning (703) 239-1694 or via his website, www.kevinquinley.com
Try the WC Cost Calculator to show the REAL COST of work comp.
Look at WC 101 for the basics about workers comp.
Workers’ Comp Kit® is a web-based online Assessment, Benchmarking and Cost Containment system for employers. It provides all the materials needed to reduce your costs significantly in 85% less time than if you designed a program from scratch.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel before implementing any cost containment programs.
©2008 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@WorkersCompKit.com
If a fraudulent claim is suspected, the employer should ask persons assisting the employer to review additional records. Prior employers listed in the records may have vital information about unemployment claims, prior workers’ compensation claims or discrimination claims which have been filed by the employee.
If an employee has simultaneously filed a workers’ compensation claim and an unemployment or discrimination claim, the employer should review this information. The easiest way to deal with fraud is to show that the employee has made contradictory claims to other agencies for the same injury.
Here are two actual examples of fraud detected by obtaining the records of other claims:
Example 1
The employee has filed a claim for workers comp alleging work stress and harsh physical demands leading to chronic back pain. Three years later, the employer learned the employee had alleged discrimination and harassment in a civil rights complaint which was taken to the Appellate Division where the employer won.
The employee had alleged that she was a good worker who was performing her work but that co-workers harassed her by leaving a dead body outside her security station. This story was bizarre and incredible. It led to the employer winning both the discrimination and workers’ compensation claims but only because diligent investigation discovered the earlier discrimination claim.
Example 2
A foreign born worker filed for unemployment benefits alleging that he had been fired for being late after he had driven through a thunderstorm. He had testified in English at the hearing and there was no interpreter.
After he lost the unemployment claim, the employee filed a workers’ compensation claim alleging he had told the employer he injured his back but the employer did not understand him because the employee did not speak English. The persons assisting the employer on the compensation claim were not told of the unemployment claim for over a year. Fortunately, the records were obtained and the employee’s own statements were used to defeat the compensation claim.
Inconsistent Statements - Few persons filing fraudulent claims are consistent with their statements, especially when they are made to different administrative workers’ compensation claims and communicate with the workers’ compensation board, valuable information will be lost unless the employer alerts those charged with the defense of the workers’ compensation claim. This is an excellent example of how an employer can actively participate in the defense of their workers’ comp claims.
This information was provided by Attorney Theodore Ronca, P.O. Box 980, Aquebogue, NY 11931. Attorney Ronca handles workers’ compensation and disability claims on behalf of employers. Phone: 631-772-2100 or medsearch7@optonline.net
For more cost-saving tips go to WC Cost Reduction Tips.
Show the REAL cost of workers’ comp with the Real Cost Calculator.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel before implementing any cost containment programs.
©2008 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@WorkersCompKit.com
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