Atlanta Workers’ Compensation – Home

Hello.  I am Atlanta workers’ compensation attorney Jodi Ginsberg.   For the past 20+ years, I have represented injured workers in claims before the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation.  Although my office is located in Atlanta, I work with clients throughout the state.

In my years of practice, I have handled cases involving a wide variety of injuries, including:

• back injuries
• neck injuries
• spinal cord injuries
• paralysis
• shoulder injuries
• burns
• catastrophic injuries
• carpal tunnel injuries to the wrist
• closed head injuries
• knee injuries
• eye injuries and vision loss
• crush injuries
• puncture wounds
• ankle injuries
• internal organ damage arising from a fall

What Can an Experienced Atlanta Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Do for You?

I sometimes get calls or emails from a prospective client who asks “why do I even need a lawyer?  My HR representative tells me that if I am injured on the job I am automatically eligible for benefits?” This is a reasonable question and I am happy to explain why you would be wise to pick up your phone and call me (my number is 770-351-0801) if you have been injured at work:

• first, workers’ compensation is an extremely adversarial system, perhaps second only to contested divorce in terms of the fighting that goes on between insurance companies and injured workers.  Even if your direct supervisor or company owner is friendly or even sympathetic, once your claim is turned over to an insurance adjuster, you become a claim number and any goodwill or appreciation for your hard work or years of service goes out the door

• workers’ compensation insurance companies view you as a problem to be solved once you get hurt.  Every weekly benefit check they issue and every doctor bill they pay represents dollars that come out of their bottom line profit.  Insurance companies are in the “risk management” business – they have a duty to their shareholders to pay out as little as they can and close cases as fast as they can.  Your best interest is not a factor.  Employers and insurers spend a lot of money to minimize their obligations.

• Here, for example, is a quote about the economics of workers’ compensation from the web site of a nationally known workers’ compensation risk management consultant:  “rising costs can primarily be attributed to an increased use of medical benefits and duration of disability. The longer employees remain out of work, the more wage replacement and medical services are required.   To manage this costly trend, companies must take a more aggressive approach to managing workers’ compensation procedures.”  In real life, this means that your employer and its insurer will use every technique, tactic and strategy to minimize what they have to pay you. My job, as your lawyer, is to push back and push back hard to force the insurance company to pay for appropriate care and to pay you wage benefits for enough time that you can truly recover.
• one of the biggest battlegrounds in Georgia workers’ compensation claims arises from medical care.  The insurance company will often try to refer you to a physician whose entire practice concerns workers’ comp. injuries (hint: if you see the words “industrial clinic” proceed with extreme caution).  My job is to critically evaluate which doctors are treating you and to use the legal tools available to us to get you to a qualified doctor who has your interests at heart and who is free of bias.
• another battleground in Georgia workers’ compensation law has to do with case settlement.  In theory, settlement should be a small part of the workers’ compensation experience – after you get hurt, you get treatment, some time off while you are recovering, then you return to work.  In reality, however, it does not work this way.  If you experience a significant injury (such as a herniated disc, carpel tunnel surgery, a closed head injury) your employer will not want you to return.  Why?  Because statistically once a worker is injured, he is more likely to experience a second injury.  There is always someone younger/healthier/cheaper to take your place.
  
• how much is your case worth?  when is the right time to settle? what is a Medicare set-aside and how can it be negotiated? how are you going to support yourself if you accept a settlement?  These are important questions and you need and deserve professional legal guidance.  That’s where lawyers like me come in to play.  While I can’t promise to solve all of the problems associated with your on-the-job injury, you can be certain that I will be looking out for what benefits you the most.   Obviously, you will want to walk out of my office with the largest possible check, but a big settlement is not the only factor that matters – over the years I have negotiated settlements that include company paid medical care for a year or longer with a doctor of our choice, home modification to allow for special beds or bathroom equipment, company paid physical therapy and even insurance annuity payments to guarantee my client lifetime income.  Depending on the facts of your case, we can get very creative to leave you with the opportunity to live comfortably and with dignity for months or years after your case is over.

How Can this Website Help You?

Georgia workers’ compensation law can be confusing but the “big picture” principles are fairly straightforward.   I want my clients to understand the process because knowledge will lead to less frustration and better decision making.  I invite you to use this website as a source of information about Georgia workers’ compensation law.  I also use this site to share some of the strategies I use to work on my cases and to discuss some of the cases I have handled recently.  Hopefully, by sharing some of my knowledge about this specialized area of law, you will get a sense about how I manage my cases, which may result in our working together now or in the future.

If you have been injured on the job and you need immediate attention, please call me at 770-351-0801, or send me a confidential case review request.  I make every effort to return all calls and emails within 24 hours (although I usually get to them much sooner than that).

If you have more general questions, feel free to email me and I will do my best to respond to you directly or through a post on my blog.