Legal Ease Newsletter: 1997 Spring

• If I am injured at work, where do I file a claim for workers’ compensation benefits?
  
  Give your employer notice of injury immediately.  Usually the employer, or the employer’s insurance carrier, will take care of the initial paperwork.  Also obtain medical treatment immediately so you can get back to work as soon as possible.
  
  
• How long can I wait to file a claim?
  
  You should give your employer notice of your injury as soon as possible after it occurs, but the law allows a claim as long as notice of injury is filed within two (2) years from the date of injury.
  
  
• What determines whether a claim for workers’ compensation benefits is paid or denied?
  
  Generally, you qualify if you suffer an injury or illness which arises out of and in the course of your employment.  In other words, there must be a “causal relationship” between the job and the injury or illness you suffer.
  
  
• How long do I have to wait after a disabling injury before receiving benefits?
  
  That depends.  A determination of compensability must be made within twenty-one (21) days after notice of a claim has been received.  If the claim is accepted, weekly benefits should begin immediately.  A common reason for denying a claim is that there is “no causal relationship” between the job and the injury or illness.
  
  
• If my claim is denied, how can I contest the denial?
  
  You or your employer may each request an administrative hearing before the New Hampshire Labor Department.  The Courts are generally not used in workers’ compensation disputes.
  
  
• I was injured at work, but it was my fault.  Does this mean I cannot collect workers’ compensation benefits?
  
  No.  Benefits are generally payable regardless of whether the injury was the employee’s fault, the employer’s fault, a fellow employee’s fault or the fault of no one.  However, no benefits are payable if the injury is caused by the intoxication or by the serious and willful misconduct of the worker.
  
  
• What benefits are payable under the workers’ compensation system?
  
  Injured workers are entitled to receive medical treatment for their injuries and partial replacement of their lost wages.  The benefits are sixty percent (60%) of your average weekly wage, and are paid without deduction for federal income or social security taxes.  Depending on the extent of disability, other benefits may be payable.
  
  

• After January 1, both lawyers and insurance companies cannot contact victims of airplane accidents or their relatives for at least thirty (30) days.
  
  
• A terminally ill patient who wants to “sell” a life insurance policy for an immediate cash payment can do so tax free after January 1, 1997.
  
  
• Giving property to children to qualify for Medicaid is a federal crime, if the donor applies for Medicaid.
  
  
• In 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a tomato was a vegetable.
  
  
• Under federal regulations, an airline can limit the amount it must pay if baggage is lost, stolen, damaged or delayed to $1,250 per passenger.
  

• In Hartford, Connecticut, you aren’t allowed to cross a street while walking on your hands.
  
  
• In Baltimore, Maryland, it’s illegal to throw bales of hay from a second-story window within the city limits.  It’s also illegal to take a lion to the movies.
  
  
• In Zion, Illinois, it is illegal for anyone to give lighted cigars to dogs, cats and other domesticated animals kept as pets.
  
  
• In Ottumwa, Iowa, "it is unlawful for any male person, within the corporate limits of the (city), to wink at any female person with whom he is unacquainted."