The threat of fraud is frequently cited by Workers’ Compensation insurance companies as justification for some of their more obtuse policies. They might claim that their reluctance to pay you is due to their compliance with policies that protect them from fraud. They may even claim that their obstinacy protects you, the insured, as well.

However, Workers’ Compensation fraud is not the threat that Workers’ Compensation insurance companies make it out to be. In fact, independent studies have found that less than 2 percent of all Workers’ Compensation claims are fraudulent. The Workers Injury Law and Advocacy Group reported in a study that there were only 178 fraudulent claims in the 55,854 Workers’ Compensation claims filed in Florida in 2005. Only 80 fraudulent claims were filed in Kansas in 2006, a year when 66, 469 Workers’ Compensation claims were filed in the state.

Moreover, employers and insurance companies have far worse tendencies towards insurance fraud. 89% of fraud accusations are made against employers rather than employees. The state of Tennessee has collected over $300,000 in fines from employers and insurance carriers in relation to Workers’ Compensation insurance fraud. The state of New York reports that 25-30% of employers are not providing their employees with proper coverage as per state regulation.

If you have been injured in a South Carolina workplace, an experienced South Carolina Workers’ Compensation attorney can get you the settlement you deserve. Don’t accept the insurance company’s excuses. Call The Dennison Law Firm today for a free initial consultation.

If you are interested in receiving legal advice about your Social Security hearing, please contact The Dennison Law Firm for a consultation with a skilled Greenville disability lawyer. Here’s a brief overview of the Social Security hearing process:

As stated in the Social Security regulations,“…[a]t the hearing, the administrative law judge looks fully into the issues, questions [the claimant] and the other witnesses, and accepts as evidence any documents that are material to the issues…even though the evidence would not be admissible in court under the rules of evidence used by the court.”

However, the way that your hearing will be administered will depend on who your administrative law judge (ALJ) is, since each ALJ handles hearings differently. But generally, you can expect to see the ALJ permit the parties to question witnesses who will be testifying under oath. What may be different is whether or not your ALJ will ask witnesses to remain in the waiting room while you testify.

One thing to be aware of is that if you plan on going to your hearing without the representation of a lawyer, your ALJ may use a different approach. For instance, if you have chosen a Greenville disability lawyer to represent you the timing and degree of questioning by your ALJ could be different. In that case, the ALJ may refrain from questioning you until after your lawyer has had an opportunity to ask questions.

While your ALJ will ultimately determine when the issues will be argued and when the evidence will be admitted, there are standard procedures set forth in the HALLEX (a Social Security Administration manual), which most ALJs around the country follow.

If you have any additional questions about your upcoming Social Security hearing and are interested in having a Greenville disability lawyer represent you, please contact The Dennison Law Firm for a free consultation.

You may have questions about what is expected of you after you apply for and are granted disability benefits. You may worry that your benefits may be in danger of stopping or you need to check in regularly to keep them coming. A Greenville disability attorney can tell you what to do.

Do not worry that the Social Security Administration is going to make it difficult to keep your benefits going. For the vast majority of claimants, their disabilities are found to continue at the initial evaluation, and very few claimants have their benefits stopped.

You might still receive contact or materials from the Social Security Administration. For the most part, you will not have any problems with your case after you are found disabled, but sometimes, complications arise. It is a good idea to keep all decisions, notices, and letters you receive from them for your personal file and read everything closely. The award letters and notices will provide you with valuable information. Pay especially close attention to anything that tells you what kind of information you are required to report to the Social Security Administration and when. Make sure you report promptly and keep a copy for your own files. Finally, instead of relying on the Social Security Administration’s 1-800 number, it might be better to visit the local Social Security office for more reliable information.

If you have any questions about how to keep your disability benefits going, contact an experienced Greenville disability attorney at The Dennison Law Firm today for a free initial consultation.

When a patient is filing for Social Security disability benefits, he or she may ask a treating doctor for some help in order to make the claim more credible. Subjective descriptors of pain and suffering are one thing, but it is a requirement that patients have an objectively identifiable impairment in order to qualify for disability benefits, and the testimony or record of a doctor is critical in establishing that. A Greenville disability attorney can help you understand the role of a treating doctor in the process.

The fact is objective medical findings are extremely important to disability claims. Medical findings will help determine the range of possibilities of the patient’s abilities. If a patient’s condition does not meet the Listing of Impairments, then the patient can look to a combination of medical findings to try to equal the Listing of Impairments instead. Some medical findings are inconclusive; for example, the Social Security Administration has found that there is a lack of correlation between X-ray findings and the function of a joint.

If you are a doctor and have been asked by a patient to prepare an opinion as to the patient’s ability to perform work, the best method is to talk to your patient about his or her ability to do work-related activities. But exercise your own professional judgment to determine if what the patient says is reasonably consistent with what you know about the patient’s medical condition.

If you have further questions about the role medical findings play in a Social Security disability claim, contact an experienced Greenville disability attorney at The Dennison Law Firm today for a free initial consultation.

If you have applied for Social Security disability benefits and been denied twice, you may appeal to the hearing stage, during which you will sit before an administrative law judge (ALJ). This hearing may seem intimidating, and a Greenville disability attorney may be able to advise and prepare you for the hearing.

The hearing may begin with the ALJ reciting the case history of your claim from the beginning and stating the issues to be decided in your case. The ALJ will describe precisely what it is up to you to prove in your case, although his or her explanation will probably not be clear and simple. The ALJ may recite the Social Security Regulations’ definition of “disabled,” which is that you must be “unable to perform substantial gainful activity which exists in significant numbers in the economy, considering your age, education and work experience.” This may sound like you must be permanently bedridden to be found disabled, but it is not as stringent as that.

The ALJ may ask you questions or give your Greenville disability attorney an opportunity to ask you questions. Whether you are asked questions by the ALJ or your attorney, answer them as if the ALJ knows nothing at all about your case. Do not assume that just because your lawyer is the one asking you the questions that you don’t need to explain your answers in detail because he or she already knows your case.  The hearing is your one chance to personally describe to the ALJ how your impairments prevent you from working.

If you have further questions about preparing for your disability hearing, contact a Greenville disability attorney from the Dennison Law Firm today for a free consultation.

In order to qualify for Social Security disability benefits, your impairment has to last for at least a full year. In practice, this means that if your impairment has not lasted for a full year prior to when you applied for benefits, you must have evidence that it can be expected to continue at least a full year.

Claims are denied based on the duration requirement when the impairment in question is likely to improve or heal entirely within a year. If it is unclear whether or not your impairment will improve within this timeframe, your case may be delayed until a clearer answer can be found. Furthermore, the Social Security Administration can be extremely slow in scheduling and holding hearings. If the duration requirement is in question when you apply, it may have been met retroactively by the time you are granted a hearing.

If you have an impairment that is reoccurring or sometimes goes into remission, you typically do not have to worry about the duration requirement. The impairment just has to keep you from working for a sustained amount of time. However, there must be at least one impairment that continually prevents you from working. The law expressly prohibits stringing together unrelated impairments that would not last one year individually in order to meet the duration requirement.

If you have unfairly been denied Social Security disability benefits for this or any other reason, an experienced South Carolina disability attorney can help you get the benefits you deserve. Call the Dennison Law Firm today for a free initial consultation.

As any South Carolina Workers’ Compensation attorney can tell you, workplace hazards can include even seemingly innocuous things such as noise. Yet, long-term hearing loss due to noise is one of the most common occupational disabilities, often overlooked by workers, employers, and insurance companies

Part of the reason is because unsafe levels of noise do damage over time—its symptoms and its effect on the sufferer’s quality of life are slow to develop. The reason for this is has to do with the mechanics of how the human ear works. The ear is shaped to direct sound waves into the ear canal, where they hit the ear drum. The ear drum transfers the vibrations via three small bones to the cochlea, which converts the vibrations to nerve signals.

This system is actually extremely fragile. A one-time exposure to a very loud noise can result in temporary, partial, or complete deafness. In these cases, most of the victim’s hearing will eventually return. What really damages a person’s hearing is the long-term exposure to unsafe levels of sound. This causes irreversible damage that can initially be difficult to detect, as hearing is lost gradually.

Hearing loss can have a major impact on the victim’s quality of life. Even a small amount of hearing loss can drastically impede a person’s ability to understand speech. This can make a person unable to communicate with loved ones effectively, and it can also make it difficult for him to understand instructions at work.

An experienced South Carolina Workers’ Compensation attorney will make sure that the effect of your injuries on your ability to live and work is not overlooked, no matter what the nature of the injury. Call one of the dedicated South Carolina Workers’ Compensation attorneys at the Dennison Law Firm for a free consultation.

Forklifts can be extremely dangerous devices in untrained hands, and employers have a responsibility to ensure that only trained and prepared personnel operate forklifts in the workplace. Otherwise, injuries are likely to occur. If you have been injured in a forklift accident, a qualified Greenville Workers’ Compensation attorney may be able to help you file for Workers’ Compensation. The best protection, however, is prevention, and employers should be aware of guidelines to operate forklifts correctly and safely, and how to avoid accidents.

If the floor on which the forklift is traveling is slippery at all due to oil, grease, water, or other liquids, there is a danger of skidding. Forklift operators should make sure to avoid slippery surfaces whenever possible and cross them slowly and cautiously if they must. Warning signs should be posted, and other workers should be notified if the spill has not yet been cleaned up. Driving over the spill will likely enlarge the hazardous area.

Obstructions and holes in the floor also present a hazard if the operator does not see them, as they create a danger of tip-over. Operators should make sure to get off the forklift, manually remove the obstruction, and maintain steering control by keeping contact with the ground at all times. For hard obstacles such as speed bumps, cross them at a 45-degree angle to ensure consistent contact.

If you have been injured in a forklift accident, contact an experienced Greenville Workers’ Compensation attorney at the Dennison Law Firm to see if you are entitled to Workers’ Compensation benefits. The initial consultation is free.

Following a successful Social Security disability claim, you will begin receiving monthly benefits. You will also receive a lump sum payment of all of the back benefits that are owed you. Your Greenville disability attorney will be able to explain to you what exactly will happen after your favorable decision, as well as what you should be considering in terms of your income. There are two levels with which you should be concerned: (1) the trial work period services monthly amount and (2) the substantial gainful activity level.

In terms of the former, the level of income that you are getting is based on the gross amount, not the net amount, and it is not averaged. That is, your take-home pay is not what counts against you; what you actually earn does. Additionally, you are assessed on a monthly basis rather than over several months’ time. There are no deductions that you would be able to take in order to keep your gross income below the trial work period services monthly amount.

Regarding substantial gainful activity, gross income counts here as well, but your income is averaged. In addition, you will be able to take certain deductions, such as vacation pay, sick pay, and impairment-related work expenses. These expenses, as determined by the Social Security Administration, can include out-of-pocked payments that you make in the course of treating your disability, as well as certain work expenses. Your Greenville Social Security disability attorney will be able to assess what you can deduct and what you cannot deduct.

During the preparatory period for your Social Security hearing, at the actual hearing, and after a decision is made on your case are all times where the knowledge and experience of a qualified Greenville disability lawyer are indispensable in helping you to ensure the most favorable outcome possible. Contact Dennison Law Firm by filling out the form on this page for a consultation regarding your specific case.

If you have applied for disability benefits and been denied twice, you may be considering appealing again to what is called the hearing stage, at which an administrative law judge (ALJ) hears your case. A Greenville disability attorney will be able to help you understand what to expect at your hearing.

After you submit your request for a hearing, there will be an attorney advisor who works for the Social Security Administration who will review your file, possibly request more evidence, and communicate with your Greenville disability attorney with any prehearing questions. It is possible the adviser will issue a favorable decision before your disability claim even gets to a hearing, but if not, the hearing will be scheduled as normal. You may, however, appeal this decision by the advisor to the Appeals Council.

You have the option of appearing in person for your hearing or appearing by video teleconference. While the Social Security Administration prefers videoconferencing, we recommend appearing in person, as the ALJ is required to schedule hearings to accommodate those who wish to appear in person. At your hearing, your attorney may present evidence for your case, but the rules for admitting evidence are considerably more lenient than in a criminal trial. There may be experts who testify, such as your own doctor, or a vocational witness called by the judge to testify regarding your previous occupations. However, the hearing is not adversarial. You will not be cross-examined.

If you have further questions about what to expect at your hearing, contact an experienced Greenville disability attorney from the Dennison Law Firm today for a free consultation.