Hurt on the job in Hampton? Workers’ comp can cover your medical care and part of the pay you lose, but a Virginia claim has to meet a legal test and beat a filing deadline first. Pathfinder Injury Law represents injured workers only, and Virginia workers’ compensation is the only kind of case we handle.
We do not have an office in Hampton. You can meet with us by phone or video, or at our Richmond office by appointment. Your first consultation is free. Call 804-505-0633 or use the form on this page.
Which Rules Decide a Virginia Workers’ Comp Claim?
Before anything else, a claim under the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act has to clear these rules:
- Who is covered: Virtually all employers with three or more employees regularly in service in Virginia are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Being called an independent contractor doesn’t always settle it. What matters most is whether the company has the right to control how the work is done.
- What you have to show: that your injury arose out of and in the course of your employment, and that it was caused by an identifiable incident at a reasonably definite time that produced a sudden mechanical or structural change to your body.
- Notice: give your employer written notice of the accident within 30 days, although exceptions exist (Va. Code § 65.2-600).
- Filing: Your claim must be on file with the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission within two years of your date of accident, although exceptions apply. File it even if the insurance company is already paying you (Va. Code § 65.2-601).
- Fault: it doesn’t matter whether your employer caused the accident. Your own conduct can matter, for example willful misconduct or willfully breaking a known safety rule.
Ready to start? Here’s how to file a workers’ comp claim.
Where Do Hampton Workers Get Hurt on the Job?
Health care is the city’s largest industry, with about one in six workers, and retail is second, according to the state’s Virginia Works community profile. The city government tops the state’s list of the largest employers, and three federal agencies are also in its top five: the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and NASA. Private employers high on that list include:
- Hospitals and care: Sentara Healthcare, Riverside Regional Medical Center, and York Convalescent Center
- Howmet, whose plant makes cast metal parts for turbines
- Main Industries, which does blasting, painting, and scaffolding work on ships
- Warehouse and delivery work: Amazon Fulfillment Services, Amazon Logistics, and Federal Express
- Stores and restaurants: Food Lion, Walmart, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Kroger, and McDonald’s
- Hampton University and the public schools
Common sudden injuries in work like this include:
- Burns from molten metal, furnaces, and hot parts
- Falls from scaffolding or staging while blasting or painting
- Aides and nurses hurt lifting or turning a resident or patient
- Packages, totes, or carts that fall on or strike a worker
- Hands caught in a conveyor or a cardboard baler
- Kitchen burns and slips on greasy restaurant floors
- Delivery van crashes on city streets and highways
- A torn shoulder or knee from one specific lift or fall
Not every one of these is equally easy to prove. A burn from hot metal or a fall from scaffolding happens at one moment, and someone usually writes it down that day. A shoulder injury from lifting packages is a harder claim: the insurance company may say the injury came on gradually instead of from one identifiable incident, or that the problem is degenerative. If you felt it happen, write down the date, what you were doing, and who you told.
A crash caused by another driver while you were working may also give you a separate injury claim against that driver. More on factory accidents, car accidents at work, and shoulder injuries on the job.
What If I Was Hurt on a Base or Federal Site?
The city is home to Langley Air Force Base and NASA Langley Research Center, and a Veterans Affairs medical center. Not everyone who works at a place like that is a federal employee.
If a private company pays you, your claim usually runs through that company’s Virginia workers’ comp insurance, even if you were hurt on a federal site. Tell us who pays you and where you were working.
Pathfinder Injury Law focuses only on Virginia state workers’ compensation. If you’re a federal employee, a railroad worker, or a shipyard or port worker, or if you were hurt in another state, your claim may fall under a different system. Give us a call anyway. We’ll help you figure out where your claim belongs, and if it isn’t one we handle, we’ll point you to a lawyer who does.
Who Decides a Disputed Claim?
When the parties don’t settle a dispute, the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission decides it (Va. Code § 65.2-700). The Commission lists a hearing location in the city at 22 Lincoln St. Its nearest regional office is in Virginia Beach at 281 Independence Blvd., Suite 310, which it lists as a hearing and mediation location, and it also lists a hearing location at the Williamsburg/James City County Courthouse (Commission locations).
That page doesn’t say which cases go to which location. The Commission’s rules also allow hearings by video over Webex (16VAC30-50-30). You can ask for a hearing no matter what the insurance company decides, and the insurance company will have its own lawyer there. Read what to do if your claim is denied.
What Can Workers’ Comp Pay For?
- Wage checks while you can’t work: If a doctor says you cannot return to work at all for a temporary period because of your injuries, you may receive two-thirds of your pre-injury average weekly wage, up to a maximum weekly compensation rate.
- Wage checks on light duty at lower pay: two-thirds of the difference between what you earned before and what you earn now, up to the weekly maximum.
- Medical treatment: the insurance company is required to pay for treatment that is reasonable, necessary, and causally related to the accident. That doesn’t mean it will.
- Permanent partial disability: a set number of weeks of pay for a permanent loss of use of certain body parts, based on a doctor’s rating.
- Death benefits: These benefits can pay for a limited amount of funeral expenses, medical bills incurred before the death, and lost wages for certain periods of time for certain survivors or dependents who meet statutory criteria.
There is no payment for pain and suffering. See what workers’ comp covers in Virginia.
What Should I Have Ready When We Talk?
Whatever you have is enough to start. If we meet by phone or video, you can send it to us afterward.
- Medical records, work notes, and visit summaries
- Medical bills
- Anything from your employer: the accident report, the list of doctors you were given, emails or texts about the injury
- Letters or emails from the insurance company
- Anything from the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission
Do You Take Cases From Phoebus, Fox Hill, and Nearby?
Yes. We take cases from Phoebus, Buckroe Beach, Fox Hill, Wythe, and the rest of the city, and from Poquoson and York County next door. Up the Peninsula, see our Newport News page. Across the harbor, see our Norfolk and Virginia Beach pages.
Call About Your Workers’ Comp Claim
Pathfinder Injury Law handles only Virginia workers’ compensation claims. Call 804-505-0633 or fill out the form on this page.
