How Do I Appeal a Denied Workers’ Compensation Claim?

When you get injured at work, your whole world may turn upside down, so to speak. That is, you may have to deal with hefty medical bills and keep up with your household expenses, all while you are required to take time away from work to recover physically. You may be banking on the financial support of your upcoming workers’ compensation claim. So you may become completely overwhelmed when you get word that you will not be receiving these benefits. Well, for this, please continue reading to learn more about how to appeal a denied workers’ compensation claim and how an experienced Florida workers’ compensation denial lawyer at The Law Firm of Kevin A. Moore can ensure you handle this appropriately. 

What are the steps to appeal a denied workers’ compensation claim?

Rest assured, your initial workers’ compensation denial is not the end of the road for you. You may have a chance to revive your claim through an appeal, so long as you follow its strict procedural steps. First, you may initiate this process by filing a Petition for Benefits with the Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims. Within this petition, you may include details about your injury, employer, and requested benefits. You may also supplement it with further evidence that establishes why you believe you are entitled to this compensation. 

Soon afterwards, your case may enter mediation sessions. If nothing can be settled here, your case may be taken to a hearing before a Judge of Compensation Claims. Then, if your claim is denied once again, you may appeal to the First District Court of Appeal in Florida. However, this may only be useful if your issue is with the law being applied incorrectly to your case. That is, this process will not re-evaluate the facts of your case as the Judge of Compensation Claims did. 

What is the deadline to file an appeal for my denied workers’ compensation claim?

As you can likely tell from the description above, appealing your denied workers’ compensation claim may be a long road. With that, it is better to get this process started sooner rather than later. Not only is this important to get the financial relief you desperately need quicker, but you may also be racing against a tight deadline. Specifically, you generally have to file your Petition for Benefits within two years of your incurred injury or one year from your last benefit payment.

Simply put, even by missing this cutoff date by a few days, you may be subject to a permanent bar from recovering benefits. You do not want to have to rely on limited legal exceptions applying to your case. All of this to say, the time to act is now. So please do not wait any longer to contact a skilled Florida workers’ compensation denial lawyer from The Law Firm of Kevin A. Moore. You can trust that your appeal is in good hands with us.