Workers' Compensation · New Orleans
Hurt at work?
Your boss has insurance. You should have a lawyer.
Louisiana workers' comp is supposed to be simple: you get hurt doing your job, the insurance pays your doctor and part of your wages. Then the adjuster starts "reviewing." Then the checks get late. Then a letter shows up with the word DENIED on it. That's where I come in. One attorney. Your claim. My cell phone.
Dramatization. Not an actual client — he's AI. His knee is fine. Yours might not be.
30 DAYS
to tell your employer you got hurt. Tell them in writing. Tell them anyway.
1 YEAR
to file a claim with the Office of Workers' Compensation if they deny you or stop paying.
YOUR DOCTOR
You choose your treating physician. Not the adjuster. Not the company clinic.
What Comp Actually Pays
What you're owed when you're hurt on the job.
Louisiana comp is no-fault. It doesn't matter if you slipped, or a coworker dropped it, or the ladder was from 1987. If it happened in the course of your work, the insurance owes you:
- MEDICAL CARE. Doctor visits, surgery, physical therapy, prescriptions, mileage to appointments. The first $750 of nonemergency care is yours; after that the insurer has to approve more, and when they drag their feet, there's a process to make them.
- WEEKLY CHECKS. Roughly two-thirds of your average weekly wage while you can't work, up to the state cap. If you can go back at reduced pay, there's a separate benefit for the difference.
- PERMANENT INJURY BENEFITS. For lasting damage — a lost finger, a back that's never the same.
- VOCATIONAL REHAB. Retraining if you can't go back to your old job.
- DEATH BENEFITS. For families, when the worst happens.
Not Just Hard Hats
Comp isn't just for construction.
Nurses hurt lifting patients. Warehouse workers. Line cooks. Hotel housekeepers. Drivers. Office workers with repetitive injuries. If you earn a paycheck in Louisiana and got hurt earning it, this applies to you. Immigration status doesn't change that — Louisiana courts have said so.
Here's how the insurer tries to shrink your claim:
- "IT'S PRE-EXISTING." Your back was fine until the pallet fell. Aggravating an old injury is still a work injury.
- "GO TO OUR DOCTOR." No. You pick your treating physician. They can send you for a second opinion; they can't take away your choice.
- "WE'RE STILL REVIEWING." Benefits have deadlines. When the insurer blows them without a real reason, a workers' comp judge can hit them with penalties and make them pay your attorney's fees on top.
- "SIGN HERE." A recorded statement or a settlement release signed early can cost you more than the injury did. Call me first.
Dramatization. Not an actual client — she's AI. Real nurses, real injuries, real claims: that's what the phone is for.
Claim Denied
Claim denied? They say no. We say oui.
A denial is an opening position, not a verdict. We file a Disputed Claim for Compensation with the Office of Workers' Compensation, put the adjuster's reasoning in front of a judge, and make the insurer explain itself under oath. Most of the time, the explanation doesn't hold up.
Stock photo and a prop form. Not your claim — but I've seen plenty that look like it.
The Third-Party Angle
Sometimes comp is just the beginning.
Comp pays your medical and part of your wages. It doesn't pay for your pain, and it doesn't pay for what the injury took from the rest of your life. But if someone other than your employer caused the injury — a contractor on the site, a driver who hit your work truck, a manufacturer whose equipment failed — you may have a full personal injury case on top of the comp claim. I handle both. That's the point of hiring one lawyer for your whole case.
Boats, Docks & Offshore
The other kind of comp.
If you were hurt on a vessel, on a dock, at the port, or offshore, state comp may not be your claim at all. Jones Act seamen, Longshore and Harbor Workers, and some federal employees fall under different laws with different — often better — benefits. If any of that sounds like your job, call. We'll figure out which law you're under before the insurer decides for you.
Fees
What this costs you.
Nothing up front. No attorney's fee unless we win. In Louisiana comp cases, attorney's fees are capped by law at 20% of what's recovered, and a workers' comp judge has to approve them. You may be responsible for case costs and expenses, which are separate. We'll walk through all of it before you sign anything.
The people in these photos aren't clients — the worker and the nurse are AI, and the clipboard is a prop. Dramatizations, not actual events. Deadlines on this page are general rules with exceptions in both directions; yours may be shorter. "No fee unless we win" means no attorney's fee; you may be responsible for case costs. Comp attorney's fees are limited to 20% of the amount recovered and approved by a workers' compensation judge (La. R.S. 23:1141). Attorney advertising. Every case turns on its own facts.
¿Se lesionó en el trabajo? Hablemos.
En Luisiana, su estatus migratorio no le quita el derecho a reclamar compensación laboral. Si se lesionó haciendo su trabajo, el seguro de su empleador debe pagar su atención médica y parte de su salario. Todo lo que me diga está protegido por el privilegio abogado-cliente.
Se habla español. Consulta gratis.
THEY SAY NO,
We Say
OUI.
504 · OUI · 4444
Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Se habla español.