Was It a Matter of Age Discrimination That Your Employer Denied Your Workers’ Compensation Claim?
Some people dream of retiring as early as possible. If they are employed in an industry that offers workers a generous retirement package after a certain number of years of service, they might spend years planning ahead for life after the rat race, living within their means during their working years and then using their retirement money to move to an inexpensive location, or else investing it in the equivalent of side gig. Unless you are fortunate enough to have such a cushy job, or unless you get an inheritance or some other windfall that makes you no longer need the income from your job, then working until 65 or even older is the best-case scenario. Age discrimination in the workplace is real, though, and one of the forms it can take is when employers refuse to pay workers’ compensation claims for workers in middle age and beyond. If your employer is trying to argue that your pain is due to you being no spring chicken instead of to your work injury, contact a South Florida workers’ compensation lawyer.
Is Your Pain from a Work Injury or Just Because of Your Age?
If you feel that your job is helping you stay young and healthy, science can back you up, and age discrimination laws can protect you from employers refusing to hire you simply because they would rather hire someone younger. Despite this, the risk of many common diseases, including cardiovascular disease and most types of cancer, increases with age. Likewise, the body’s ability to heal declines with age. Therefore, the older you are, the more likely you are to suffer long-lasting pain from muscle strain injuries and trauma. Age is one of the risk factors for complications of whiplash injury, a muscle strain injury of the muscles that support the upper spine; complications can include everything from headaches and neck pain to neurological symptoms.
Age discrimination in workers’ compensation cases may be subtle, but it definitely exists. In order to get your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance to pay for your claim, you must prove that the symptoms for which you are seeking treatment are from the work injury and not from any other cause. The doctors, who are chosen by your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company, are likely to argue that your pain or other symptoms are the result of a pre-existing condition. The older you are, the more likely you are to have pre-existing conditions. Whether you have high blood pressure or your back has bothered you off and on since you fell from a ladder at work 20 years ago, the workers’ compensation doctor might use it against you. Your employer might unfairly blame your age for problems that in fact resulted from a work injury, and so might the treating physicians and experts bankrolled by your employer. A workers’ compensation lawyer can help you set the record straight.
Contact Us Today for Professional Help
A Sunrise workers’ compensation lawyer can help you get the cost of treatment for your work injury covered, even if you are old enough to retire. Contact the Law Offices of David M. Benenfeld for help with your case.
