Nashville Attorney Jim Higgins personally heads the Tennessee Workers' Compensation division of the Higgins' Firm. Many years ago, Jim began his law career working as a lawyer for businesses and insurance companies in workers' comp cases. Now he works for Tennesseans to help injured workers receive fair compensation for on-the-job injuries. Jim and his fellow Higgins' Firm workers' comp attorneys have successfully represented people suffering from a wide range of injuries, including: reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), rotator cuff tears, traumatic brain injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), loss of limb, repetitive strain injuries, and lumbar and cervical back injuries.

Helpful Information

What To Do When Injured?
Benefits You Should Receive
What If My Doctor Takes Me Off Work?
Do I Need A Lawyer?
Legal Fees
Third Party Claims
What State Law Applies?
Workers' Compensation Links
When can a case be Reopened?

What to do when injured on-the-job?

REPORT THE JOB INJURY IMMEDIATELY: When injured at work, the Tennessee worker should report the injury in writing immediately. If circumstances prevent the employee from making an immediate report on the workplace injury (for example, because he or she is unconscious), Tennessee Workers' Compensation Law requires the workplace injury be reported within thirty (30) days after the injury occurred. Your Tennessee employer must complete a Form C-20, known as the "First Report of Work Injury," and should be doing so for every workplace injury that has you or another employee seek medical attention.

OBTAIN MEDICAL TREATMENT: Whether or not your Tennessee employer believes the claim valid, Tennessee Workers' Compensation Law requires that your employer to report the claim to their insurance carrier and provide you, in writing, the choice of three physicians (four, including a chiropractor, if the workplace injury is a back injury). These doctors listed for examining your workplace injury must not be "associated in practice" (work together) and be reasonably near your residence. You should be allowed a free choice among these three, but note that once you choose, you are required to accept the doctor's treatment and not see another medical practitioner unless your chosen doctor makes a referral.

PAYMENT WHILE UNABLE TO WORK: If your physician takes you off work for more than seven (7) days, you may be entitled to begin temporary disability payments. An injured employee is not paid for the first seven days (not including the date of injury). On the eighth day following the workplace injury, you become eligible for one day's benefit. Each following day of injury-prohibited work then counts for another day of eligible benefit (so on the ninth day unable to work, an injured Tennessee employee is eligible for two days' benefits). If this off-work period continues until a 14th day, the injured Tennessee employee becomes eligible for all days missed, including the first seven (so on the 15th day, an injured Tennessee employee is eligible for 15 days' benefits), and continues to accrue days at the rate of one per missed day.

OBTAIN LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Tennessee Workers Compensation law is complex and confusing to out-of-state attorneys who don't have the Tennessee experience of Attorney Jim Higgins and his associates. Unless your workers' comp lawyer has experience with Tennessee comp law and insurance companies, you may not be told all your available options or know whether your case is being treated fairly. Don't wait. Tennessee law puts deadlines on when you file the appropriate comp paperwork or you might lose your right to a workers' compensation claim, if you delay.

Attorney Jim Higgins and the Tennessee Workers' Compensation attorneys at the Higgins Firm understand that your immediate goal after any traumatic experience is to get your life back in order. With Higgins Firm's experienced Tennessee Workers' Comp attorneys, you are not alone in your fight. Our Nashville law office will work with an injured worker anywhere in Tennessee to make sure your needs are met in quick and just manner. To learn more, contact Higgins Firm injury attorneys online or call our Nashville law offices at 800-705-2121.