Workers' Compensation claim and choosing your own doctor.

Can I choose my own doctor for my Workers' Compensation claim?

Yes you can choose your own doctor for your Workers' Compensation claim!  But hurry.  When you are injured on the job, you have the right to choose a doctor to treat you for your work injury.  In Mississippi, you can accept the medial services and doctor being provided by your employer, or you can choose your own doctor.  This means that you have the right to reject the doctor that the employer offers and pick your own.

If the employer does not send you to a doctor, you can still pick your own doctor—and you should.  You should always pick a doctor that you trust instead of relying on your employer to send you to a doctor.  Sometimes, employers will send their employee to a doctor they trust will side with them (the employer).   Would you rather pick a doctor that you know will be loyal to you?   Or would you rather your doctor be chosen by the person footing the bill (the insurance company)?

If your employer has already sent you to a doctor, that doctor does not constitute your own “choice of physician.”  So, even if your employer has already sent you to the doctor they have chosen, you can still go to another doctor that you choose.

However, there are a couple of exceptions to your right to choose your own doctor.  If you have treated with any doctor for your work injury for 6 months or more, or if that doctor has performed surgery on you, then that same doctor is deemed to be your “choice of physician” and you do not get to choose to go to a different doctor.

But regardless of what doctor you have treated with and for how long, call your attorney to discuss the possibility of getting a new doctor. At Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A., we will fight for you to get the best medical treatment possible.

Whatever doctor you see, and whenever you see a doctor for your work injury, be sure to tell them that you were injured while working for your employer and the medical treatment should be filed under workers’ compensation.  If you do not know a doctor who can treat you, call Chhabra & Gibbs.

For more questions about how a workers compensation case in Mississippi works, call Amanda Hill at Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. at 601-948-8005 or chat with us online on our website today.

Amanda G. Hill

Can I be fired while being treated for my workers compensation case?

Yes. In the state of Mississippi, your employer can fire you while you are being treated for your workers’ compensation case.  Mississippi is an “at-will employment” state, which means that you can be fired for any reason.  In other words, you can be fired for misconduct or because the employer doesn’t like the color of your shoes.  You can even be fired for the mere fact that you made a workers compensation claim.  It is not fair.  But it is the law.  Our firm and many others have done their best, year after year, to get the legislature to change the law and make it illegal to fire someone just because they made a workers’ compensation claim.  But so far, the legislature is not listening.  They don’t want to hear from a bunch of lawyers who make their living from the system.  They want to hear from you who are casting the votes.  If you don’t know who your legislator is, please call our office at 601-948-8005 and give us your address and we will be glad to tell you and give you their contact information so you can let them know you don’t think it is right that you can be fired for filing a workers’ compensation claim especially if the employer was at fault in causing the injury by not having a safe work place.

The good news is that under the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation laws, when a person is fired after an injury at work, the law presumes that they were fired because of their injury.  That means that the Judge will see through any reason they give for firing you and instead, presume that you were fired because you were hurt and could not work the same way you used to.   This presumption can be rebutted by your employer if they have proof of misconduct that warranted termination, but your attorney will make sure the Judge hears your side of the story.   If the Judge decides that you were fired because of your injury, your attorney can usually negotiate a better settlement for you.  The fact that this presumption structure exists will affect the value of your case because it impacts how the Judge determines what your loss of wage earning capacity will be or how much loss of functionality you have endured.

You may also file a federal claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against your employer if you can prove the termination was based on Race, Gender, Age, Religion, Nationality, and Disability if you have been discriminated against on that basis, but the work injury claim alone is a perfectly legal reason to fire someone. 

If you have been hurt and you are worried about losing your job, contact an attorney and get armed with information BEFORE you get fired.  Don’t wait until things are bad before you find out what your rights are.  Go to our website at http://www.cglawms.com or call us at 601-948-8005

Amanda G. Hill