Looking for an Ounce of Justice

**mr.macdonald** · 01-19-2012, 05:15 PM

i'll try to be breif ,so if anyone has any questions please ask away ,,any advice would be great....so far it seems as though we are being robbed and nobody has had the decency to even stick a gun in our faces (if you know what i mean)-----------my wife works for a company that has a union and one of her coworkers that has a bipolar type condition has verbally attacked several coworkers ,,and physically attacked another who sued her and won ... about a year ago she did it again to my wife injuring her shoulder badly ..all of this was handled very inappropriatly by management and the union ...my wife has done everything correctly just as she was asked to including finding a part time job within her restrictions to offset there cost's .....then suddenly her boss threatens her job and lies about the whole thing ...this all came out in her workers comp hearing and they really looked like fools ... suddenly they tell her they will give her 5000.00 to walk away which she refused because that would not cover her back pay let alone doc. bills ...now they say there going to cancel her insurance on her and the whole family ... the union says they will protect her job but she will have to start from scratch earning her insurance back ,,,which is 2-3 hundred hours ,,,but they know she might be sometime before there doc will release her to work -----they are literally starving us out attempting to cause us to loose our home ,,,we are both so at the end of our rope ....it is beyond words .... we have tried to talk to a couple of attorneys ,but they don't seem anxiuos to help ,,,we have turned to the maine bar for help finding someone ,,,,but the wolves are already at our door ----- just a fair shake is all we ask -------PLEASE HELP if you can i'm starting to feel like a cornered animal------------ed

**BvIA** · 01-19-2012, 06:43 PM

Find another attorney who will be willing to help.
In the meantime, read the info here http://www.maine.gov/wcb/, learn everything you can about what benefits are available, and maybe more importantly, what is not provided.
WC is about paying benefits, not a "fair shake", when you are delayed/denied those benefits, it may be necessary to go to court.

Your frustration is understandable... there isn't really a lot of info in your post to tell what difficulties you are facing.
If you can be more specific, maybe someone can help with navigating the info at that link.

**mr.macdonald** · 05-05-2012, 10:04 AM

this is unbeleivable,, after going to the hearing ,,, which made her employer look like a crook.. we have been waiting months for the hearing officer to make a dicision ---nothing--- now we get a letter stating they are going to cancel our insurance ... this will be the end for us ,,, forecloser etc. how long can the hearing officer drag her feet ?????

**BvIA** · 05-05-2012, 11:00 AM

Have you contacted the court clerk?
There may or may not be statutory regs on how long a decision may be handed down...court clerk could answer that.

we get a letter stating they are going to cancel our insurance ...

If she is elgible for FMLA...that would protect ER paid benefits, and job for up to 12 weeks.... beyond that, there are no job protections in filing a WC claim, unless there are provisions in the union contract.
The GHP/Group Health Plan can be discontinued once the 12 weeks runs, or per the union agreement, or by the rules of the carrier writing the policy. You must be offered COBRA extension benefits, however those premiums are very costly at times.

**complwyr** · 05-05-2012, 01:28 PM

Your situation illustrates why injured workers need a lawyer earlier in the process, not towards the end after the situation has deterioriated and the evidence has been taken in court. Probably not much a lawyer can do to help now. Evidentiary and strategy mistakes that have been made may not be correctable now.

That is why lawyers are not interested in signing on to represent her at this point. Because you have already had a hearing, whatever mess you guys have will be locked in at this time and may not be fixable by a legal professional. Why didn't you get a competent workers' comp lawyer before the hearing, when a lawyer still had an opportunity to do you some good?

**mr.macdonald** · 05-05-2012, 01:34 PM

the letter we got today offered cobra bens. but the rates are completely beyond our abilities. may have well been asking us for a million to continue them i just find it incredible that she and several other employees' have complained about the worker that finally snapped and attacked my wife ,then they did everything in there power to silence her .including lying through there teeth at the hearing ,which came out at the hearing ,, my wife did everything by the book even getting another job to offset there costs ,,,but we still have not recieved a dime from anyone .. been waiting and waiting for the hearing officer to make a a disicion ... and now there gonna take away our insurance ,which we cannot afford to replace ,,, seems like the whole system is geared to screw the worker over and force them to GO AWAY ,,is it possible that the hearing off, is in cahoots,, with the company ,,,,certainly seems that way to us ... just the stress this has caused my wife is killing her... it's like they played with us long enough to put us in a financial hardspot so that when our only option is an attorney (that we cannot find) we can't afford one .... if the hearing officer had done her job somewhat competantly we would not be in this mess!!!!!

---------- Post added at 12:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 PM ----------

we tried time and time again to get an attorney ,,,every one of them said to go to the hearing ,,and that they really werent interested ..nobody .not once. said you should get an attorney ........

---------- Post added at 12:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:32 PM ----------

besides we don't even know what the hearing off. has dicided ,,she is just draggin her feet !!!!!!!!!!

**PainandSmiles** · 05-05-2012, 06:11 PM

WC is not going to cover your bills,give you family healthcare or anything else. WC is all about treating an injured employee. That's it. You don't get pain and suffering payments.

You need to channel your anger into something productive. Right now the most productive thing is finding a way to provide for your family. If your wife was the main provider for the family and she is unable to do so now,it's time for you to. Are you not working? If you are, what about getting health insurance through your work. If you can't work, have you a thought about applying for benefits from the state? Have you talked to your bill collectors about the situation? They may be able to help. Friends? Family? Church?

Your stressing over the hearing officer will not improve your finances or give you back your insurance.

It's a crappy situation to be in, I understand the anger and know the frustration.

Good luck to you and your family.