Call us now 1-866-589-9903 or 1-763-515-1101
or use the form below.
If you get a work-related injury or industrial disease, you should file a claim as soon as possible for workers' compensation benefits. Depending on your situation, you may be eligible for lost wages, medical expenses and/or vocational rehabilitation. To find out more about your potential benefits, contact an experienced workers' compensation lawyer now.
Workers' Comp - Qualified Rehabilitation Consultant
A benefit often over looked in workers' compensation is the Qualified Rehabilitation Consultant or QRC. The QRC's job is to assist individuals with work-related injuries receive vocational rehabilitation. They also assist with medical management by attending doctor appointments with the injured employee and asking questions the injured worker might not think off. They then act as a middle man between the employee, the employer, and the insurer, to relay information and ensure a swift but safe return to work.
Rehabilitation fundamentally means assistance in preparing for or obtaining employment. The general purpose of rehabilitation is to allow injured workers to return to their former employment or, if precluded from returning to their pre-injury job, to allow the injured employee to return to a modified job and also to encourage injured workers to increase their employability by acquiring new or additional skills through on-the-job training or retraining.
Rehabilitation is intended to restore the injured employee, so the employee may return to a job related to the employee's former employment or to a job in another work area which produces an economic status as close as possible to that the employee would have enjoyed without disability.
Who is qualified for rehabilitation benefits?
A "qualified employee" entitled to receive rehabilitation services. Minnesota Rule 5220.0100(22) defines "qualified employee" as: An employee who, because of the effects of a work-related injury or disease, whether or not combined with the effects of a prior injury or disability:
A. is permanently precluded or is likely to be permanently precluded from engaging in the employee's usual and customary occupation or from engaging in the job the individual held at the time of injury;
B. cannot reasonably be expected to return to suitable gainful employment with the date-of-injury employer; and
C. can reasonably be expected to return to suitable gainful employment through the provision of rehabilitation services considering the treating physician's opinion of the employee's work ability.
Note: Although the rules specifically require that an employee be "permanently precluded" from engaging in his or her customary occupation, the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals held that an employee need only be presently precluded from engaging in previous work duties. Rehabilitation assistance is available so long as an employee is precluded from returning to previous work duties as a result of the injury.
This site was set up to assist with Minnesota Workers' Compensation claims for workers injured on the job. Germscheid & Heimerl also handles general injury claims and can help you with your auto accident, personal injury or social security disability claim. Click on the links to see our main Minnesota Injury Law Page, Minnesota Social Security Disability Page, or our general Minnesota Workers Compensation page.
Germscheid & Heimerl, LLC represents workers' comp cases in Maplewood, Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minneapolis, the Twin Cities metro area including White Bear Lake, Woodbury, Oakdale, Lake Elmo, Forest Lake; Ramsey County, Anoka County, Hennepin County, Dakota County and Washington County in Minnesota.
Workers' Compensation - An Overview
US employers and their employees rely on our dependable workers' compensation system to resolve disputes about vocational injuries and disease and to provide for related worker needs. Workers' compensation benefits are commonly awarded for work-related injury, illness and death, helping to meet the needs of injured workers and their families even when faced with overwhelming situations. If you or your family member is injured or becomes sick in the course of employment, an experienced and skilled workers' compensation lawyer from our firm can assess your potential workers' compensation claim.
History and Origin
The idea of workers' compensation has its origins in Germany in the early 1800s. The industrial revolution brought dangerous new workplaces into existence such as railroads, factories and mines with accompanying increases in injuries, deaths and new work-related diseases. Social and political sympathy for the common worker grew and led to the enactment of early workers' compensation legislation.
