The goal of this assistance is to ensure that you return to work in a job that is both safe, given your physical capacities, and appropriate to your educational and employment background. Your employer then has 72 hours to report it to the Workers' Compensation Division. At the same time, your employer's insurance adjuster is notified and has 21 days to investigate and to decide whether or not to accept your claim. If there is no suitable job available, you may be entitled to continued compensation. If the return to work is part-time, you are entitled to temporary, partial disability compensation.
Specialists work closely with the insurance claims adjuster and claimant.
They will see that the adjuster completes the necessary paperwork and insure that medical examinations are performed as required. These specialists may also serve as mediators, helping the parties resolve conflicts over case issues. Further, they act in a regulatory capacity and may issue interim orders when a carrier disagrees with the Division's interpretation of the statute. In fiscal year 1994, of the over 25,000 First Reports of Injury, about 9,300 involved some intervention by the Workers' Compensation Division. Of these, about 1,500 requested a hearing and about 100 of these required adjudication and a decision by the Commissioner.