Law Offices of David Lowe | California Workers Compensation Lawyer

The goals for your workers’ compensation settlement will be rather personal. What goals you have may be quite different from another worker’s goals.

What you want from the settlement will depend on your injury and the anticipated recovery. For some people, the goal will be to get back to work as soon as possible, while other people may have a longer road to recovery and have a goal of meeting their personal financial needs at the moment. According to the State of California Department of Industrial Relations, the Division of Worker’ Compensation’s goal with the whole process is to help make the impact of the injury minimal on you and your employer.

Think long term

It is important when assessing your settlement goals that you think about the long term. Many injuries are not something you will heal from quickly. Some may have lingering effects. You need to keep these things in mind as to what a fair settlement will be.

For example, if you will never be able to return to work or to work in the field in which you did, you would require far more compensation than someone who was able to return to work a week after his or her injury with no further issues.

Ensure fairness

Whatever your needs, it is important that you make sure the settlement you receive is fair. This may be something you have trouble determining on your own, but you should carefully assess how the injury impacts your life. Ideally, you want to walk away with a settlement that will compensate you in a way that returns your life to a similar state as it was prior to your injury.

It may be impossible for the workers’ compensation system to fully restore you to “normal,” but the settlement should be adequate enough to make up for your losses and the impact of the incident.