You’ve been hurt on the job. You have never been hurt before, so you do not know the process. You’re out of work not being paid your wages. The medical bills are stacking up. You need to speak with a lawyer to get help, but lawyers are expensive, and you are not being paid. How can you afford one?
Here is the best part of our workers’ compensation firm: we do not get paid until you get paid. As simple as that. This is called the contingent fee. The fee works that we only get paid a fee on what we win for you or what we keep going for you. Our fee is always set at 20% for all workers’ compensation cases. You do not need to pay up front any sort of retainer fee. The only fee in exchange for representation is the contingent fee.
The contingent fee is paid out when the lawyer wins or settles the case or is able to keep your present benefits turned on. That means if you are already receiving your proper wage loss benefits when you hire your lawyer, a 20% fee only starts to come out of your benefits if the carrier challenges your entitlement to the benefits but your attorney defeats that challenge, keeping your benefits turned on. If the lawyer defeats a challenge to stop your benefits, they are then entitled to start collecting 20% on your weekly benefits. So if you hire a lawyer while already being paid, you should expect to start to pay a fee once any litigation in the courtroom begins.
What about if you are not on benefits when you hire your lawyer? That is simple—if they win benefits for you, you owe them 20% of the benefits won: past, present, and (usually) future. However, if you go through all of the litigation and lose the case, you will not still owe your lawyer money. We do not get paid until you get paid.
A question people usually have about the 20% concerns settlement. If the lawyer is being paid 20% on the weekly checks, are they still entitled to 20% of any settlement obtained? What about if they are not being paid on the weekly checks—are they entitled to settlement fees then? Typically the answer is yes to both scenarios. If your lawyer obtains a settlement for you, they are entitled to 20% of the settlement in addition to any monies they may have been collecting from the weekly checks.
Another question people have is if the rate of the fee changes in workers’ compensation. In Pennsylvania, the answer is no because the fee is regulated. An attorney can lower it if they so choose, but it cannot go above 20%. This is not the same for personal injury lawyers, as they have their own regulations.
If you have more questions, you can check out our video or contact the firm to speak directly with a lawyer today.