Workers Compensation and No Fault Benefits for Michigan Truck Drivers

Yes, you have the right to choose your own doctor 28 days after the injury. The worker’s compensation insurance company must pay medical expenses. I have a list of worker-friendly doctors – that’s important, because you need a doctor who’ll have your back in any fight with the insurance company.

28 days after the injury, you do not have submit to treatment by a doctor or clinic chosen by the worker’s compensation insurance company. But the insurance company has the right to periodically send you for examination to an “independent medical examination” by a doctor they choose, as long as they send you a check beforehand for round trip mileage. You should secretly record the examination, as long as it’s just you and the doctor in the examining room.

Yes, in some cases. For example, if a truck driver was injured in a moving vehicle, he is entitled to no fault insurance benefits on top of worker’s compensation. If worker’s compensation benefits are denied, the truck driver is entitled to no fault benefits if injured loading or unloading, or getting on or off the truck. If the truck driver tripped or slipped and fell on the property of a customer where you were making a pickup or delivery, you may have a negligence claim on top of your work comp claim.

The insurance company must take the highest gross wages in 39 of the 52 weeks before the injury, find an average, and then check a computer program to find the correct rate. I can double check for you. In some cases, if you have a fringe benefit which is stopped while you are disabled – such as health insurance – your comp rate must be adjusted upwards to compensate for the stoppage of that fringe benefit.

Yes. For example, if you had shoulder problems before the work injury, but the work injury made it worse to the point you can’t work, you do get workers compensation. You might also have a negligence claim against the person or company which made the problem worse – such as if you slipped and fell on ice and aggravated a shoulder which was already hurting you.

Yes. The value depends greatly on factors such as how old you are, how bad the injury is, how much future medical care you’ll need. I can negotiate for you. I know what cases are worth.

Yes. If you are not totally disabled, the employer or insurance company can make you take a light duty job. It might be at your place of employment or anywhere else, such as at the Salvation Army sorting clothes at a pay rate much less than you were getting when hurt. If the job pays less than your normal wages, the insurance company has to pay “differential compensation,” because you are now making a wage lower than when you were hurt. If you refuse the job, you lose your workers compensation. However, the employer or insurance company cannot force you to do a job which your doctor says you shouldn’t do – but it might take litigation to prove that point. To prevent the employer or insurer from forcing you back to work at a light duty job, ask your doctor to put in writing that you are “totally disabled.”

Yes, but often the insurance company will deny the claim and you’ll have to hire a lawyer and litigate. Michigan truck drivers are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to report every injury – no matter how minor – promptly. Report it by email or text, so there is a written record.

Yes, and it won’t cost you a penny.

Hire me. I always try to return client calls within 1 day.

No. Unfortunately, even if your boss told you to do a job which was likely to injure you, you can’t sue the employer. The law says that your “exclusive remedy” against your employer is worker’s compensation. But if the negligence of some person or company other than your employer was a cause of your injury, you can sue that person or company.

Yes, in some cases. If the accident involved a moving vehicle, he can get Michigan no fault benefits on top of worker’s compensation. If the accident did not involve a moving vehicle – for example, the truck driver was hurt stepping down from the vehicle or picking up a box inside the vehicle – he can only get no fault benefits if the worker’s compensation insurer denied benefits.

Yes. But you always have the right to pick the doctor who treats you.