Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Lawyers

Why You Need the Best Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Lawyer

Would it surprise you that MANY Workers' Comp Claims are unfairly DENIED to seriously injured Oklahomans?

Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Attorney James Self will help you recover compensation for your job injury and help protect your benefits. The benefits you may be able to receive under the workers' compensation law include:

Benefits for Oklahoma Workers' Compensation

• Medical treatment costs that are necessary and reasonable
• 70% of your average weekly wage up to the legal limit
• Permanent disfigurement or impairment
• Vocational rehabilitation if your injury prohibits you from performing your current job
• Psychological and emotional injury
• Death benefits for the surviving family if the on-the-job injury resulted in death

In addition, you may have another claim in addition to workers' compensation depending on the cause of the job injury. Attorney James Self and his experienced Oklahoma team will help you discover which parties are responsible for your accident and injuries. In some cases, it is possible that a third party may be responsible for your accident. Third parties are those who are not an employee or manufacturer of a product at your work site.

Our law firm can help you determine if you are eligible for OK workers' comp benefits

In Oklahoma, Workers' compensation covers injuries that occur to employees out of and in the course of employment.

However, it can be difficult to understand what exactly, that means.

Experienced Oklahoma workers' comp eligibility lawyer James Self can help ensure you and your family receive the full benefits you're due when you've been injured on the job.

Who Is an Employee?

Employees are defined under Oklahoma law as "any person engaged in the employment of an employer covered by the terms of the Workers' Compensation Code." It can also include Oklahoma National Guard members employed by state order, as well as volunteers for authorized organizations that are performing services as a firefighter, peace officer, or emergency management worker. It also refers to a participant in a certified sheltered workshop program.

Who Is an Employer?

An employer is, except for certain exemptions, "a person, partnership, association, limited liability company, corporation, the legal representatives of deceased employers" or state and local governments.

What Is a Compensable Injury?

A compensable injury for workers' compensation must arise "out of and in the course of employment." It is divided into two major categories. One category is caused by a specific incident that is identifiable in time, place, and occurrence. The other, called cumulative trauma, does not have to be associated with a specific instance. It includes cardiovasacular, coronary, pulmonary, respiratory, or cerebrovascular accident or myocardial infarction, but only when it can be established that a work-related activity is the major cause of harm, and it has to be shown that these were caused by extraordinary circumstances.

In addition, compensable injury covers damage to your prostheses like eye glasses, glass eyes, replacement limbs, and others that are considered "medically necessary."

It does not include psychological injury or trauma, unless it's related to a physical injury or crime of violence that occurs "out of and in the course of employment."

Proving Compensable Injury

Unfortunately, Oklahoma law puts the burden of proof on you for showing that your injury is compensable. To do this, you must show:

• You were injured, using "objective medical evidence"
• Your injury was related to your work
• Your injury was not due to recreational or social activities
• Was not due to aging, natural causes, or diseases not related to work